while it's useful knowing how to use chemicals 

 in food processing when necessary, she says that 

 Sea Safari tries to avoid preservatives. 



But one reason the Harris-Nash duo is 

 dynamic is that they represent the two things 

 consumers seem to want the most from food — 

 good flavor and convenience. 



Nash likes good food, he says, but he 

 would rather be outside hiking or kayaking than 

 inside cooking or cleaning afterward. Conve- 

 nience is for him. 



Harris is a natural cook with long family 

 ties to the coast and to seafood. "I've always 

 enjoyed cooking," she says. "My mom is a 

 really good cook." 



Growing up in the coastal South had its 

 own culinary advantages — like picking 

 crabmeat out of stewed hard crabs at the tender 

 age of five or six. It was a family thing. 



"My granddaddy had a CB radio, and his 

 handle was "Goose Creek Crab Eater," she says. 

 "Who would have guessed that 20 years later, 

 I'd be working in a crab facility." 



To Harris, developing a new seafood 

 product is like "working backward." 



"You have to do a lot of research in the 

 market to see what price point you have to hit . . . 

 It's difficult to start with the price," she says, 

 citing factors such as profit, labor, ingredients, 

 freight and storage. 



Sea Safari aims for mid-range in price, she 

 explains. Not the most expensive, but not the 

 least, either. 



Her coastal roots have grown into her role 

 as a seafood product developer. For the breaded 

 items, like the catfish nuggets, Harris says the 

 "breading" is a dusting of seasoned flour that 

 allows the taste of the real food to come through 

 and gives a pleasing appearance. 



"The biggest problem to overcome with 

 developing seafood products is having to realize 

 it's not your own taste you have to please. 

 You're trying to feed the masses. You have to 

 know the target audience and make a formula to 

 fit," she says. 



The company should be able to hit almost 

 any target with the variety of seafood products it 

 now boasts. To its original value-added calamari 

 and clam crisps, it now has a tantalizing 

 assortment of seafood items. Crab, Com and 

 Jalapeno Popums, Crab Stuffed Fish Rolls and 

 Shrimp Paella are just a few. 



The acquisition of Ecrevisse 

 Acadienne, USA in 1996 gave the 

 company a product not usually associated 

 with North Carolina — crawfish. With 

 the FRG funding, Sea Safari has added 

 Cajun Crawfish and Chicken Jambalaya, 

 Crawfish Etouffee and Crawfish Creole 

 to the repertoire. It's global marketing 

 with an ethnic flair. 



Nash says product development can 

 take a year to 1 8 months. It means 

 devising a product concept with the 

 expertise, equipment and packaging 

 required, plus microbial testing, shelf-life 

 testing, analyses for nutritional labeling 

 and sensory evaluation. 



SEA CHANGE 

 FOR THE CRAB INDUSTRY 



"Our company is an example of 

 where the industry is headed in the state 

 if they're going to stay in business," 

 Harris says. "It's important to develop 

 partnerships with other seafood 

 businesses." 



One such partnership is between 

 Sea Safari and Carolina Classics of Ayden to 

 make the Buffalo Catfish Nuggets. "Carolina 

 Classics supplies the catfish, and Sea Safari does 

 the rest of the processing," Harris says. Both 

 companies get a value-added product to sell 

 under their own names in the bargain. 



Green says that crabbers benefit from a 

 healthy processing industry as well. 



"There is a symbiotic relationship between 

 crabbers and the crab-processing house," he 

 says. "If the volume (of crabs) is high, the only 

 way to sell is to the processing house. If many 

 go out of business, the market is limited ... last 

 year both suffered because of lack of supply." 



A shortage of processors restricts crabbers 

 to a "live basket" trade, Green explains. 



Some crab houses want to stay small to 

 keep overhead low, supplying domestic crabs to 

 a pricier niche market. But, Green says, "A big 

 market depends on volume." 



"Going to value-added, even with imports, 

 can allow crab houses to stay in business and 

 stabilize the workforce," Green says. "Proces- 

 sors need to manipulate supply, regardless of the 

 source." 



Green says Sea Safari is in the forefront 



Sea Safari's value-added products include Buffalo Catfish 

 Nuggets (top) and Lobster Nuggets (bottom). h.ng<«M» 



with value-added items. "If one company has 

 success, more will try it. Sea Safari is providing 

 leadership and change for the industry," he says. 



Harris emphasizes that Nash and the FRG 

 program have helped tremendously with 

 developing new products and can help other 

 companies as well. The grant paid for an 

 industrial breader and deep fryer that will stay 

 with the seafood lab in Morehead for the use of 

 other processors. 



"You don't always know what equipment 

 you're going to need," says Harris. By using 

 equipment from the seafood lab. "you can get a 

 better idea of what you'll need without the 

 capital investment." 



Harris encourages other seafood processors 

 to take advantage of the resources at the seafood 

 lab and the FRG program. 



"The FRG program does work," she says. 

 "It is there, it is available, and people need to 

 take advantage of it." □ 



For more information about the FRG 

 program, go online to www.ncsu.edu/seagrant 

 and follow research links, or call 919/515-2454 

 or 252/222-6312. 



COASTWATCH 19 



