Getting the news 



to the people who need it 



( Continued from page 1 ) 



cessing plants at the coast. And anytime research 

 findings point a way toward practical solutions to 

 problems, they are quick to phone the Sea Grant 

 advisory agents at the Seafood Lab in Morehead 

 City. 



From the Lab, the suggestions go straight to 

 seafood handlers and processors, who are equally 

 swift in putting the advice to work. 



Sometimes the suggestions are as simple as ad- 

 vising people to clean their trash cans. 



"In crab plants they have a process that vir- 

 tually kills all the bacteria. No pathogens or indi- 

 cators of pathogens are present," Hackney ex- 

 plains. "But after the crab has been handled by 

 humans we're finding both pathogens and their 

 indicators in the cooked, picked crab meat. We 

 wanted to know how the crab was being recon- 

 taminated." 



After considerable head-scratching, sample- 

 taking and plant- viewing, Hackney thinks he may 

 have the answer: the waste cans may be bringing 

 in contamination after they are emptied. 



"What's important is that we've established that 

 the microorganisms aren't surviving in the cooked 

 meat but are there afterwards," Speck says. "Now 

 our job is to refine our focus so we can pinpoint 

 the sources of contamination." 



Another problem area which has been isolated 

 by both Hackney and Giddings is the flume used to 

 move scallops at some processing plants. Hackney 

 has found that the final edible scallop muscle com- 

 ing out of the flume, while still within legal limits, 

 has a higher bacterial count than the whole scallop 

 has before it is eviscerated or cleaned. 



Why? One possible reason is that the flumes are 

 dirty. Research will continue more easily on the 

 causes, though, now that the site of contamination 

 has been identified. 



Research in the lab has also shown some un- 

 suspected plusses in seafood processing. After 

 visiting several oyster plants and taking samples, 

 Hackney found that the new heat shock method of 

 preparing oysters — soaking the whole oysters in 

 hot water for seven minutes to make the shell par- 

 tially open — not only makes shucking easier but 

 also cuts down on bacterial contamination and 

 increases shelflife. 



"The method wasn't developed for microbiologi- 

 cal reasons, but it still kills surface contamina- 

 tion," Hackney says. "Of course, we want to go 

 back and make sure they're not creating other 

 problems with this process, but so far comparing 

 the two processes the newer method gets a much 

 better product." 



"This whole field is very new," Speck adds. "But 

 we do have a competence that has developed some 

 new information that can be applied really more 

 rapidly than I had anticipated." 



Wanchese harbor 



There will be a seminar series at the 

 North Carolina Marine Resources Center 

 on Roanoke Island on the upcoming Wan- 

 chese Harbor development. Sessions are 

 open to the public and begin at 8 p.m. For 

 more information, contact Jim List at 919- 

 473-3493. 



Jan. 27 — Wanchese Harbor, a history 

 Feb. 3 — Seafood, a commercial market 

 Feb. 10 — Estuarine ecology and the ef- 

 fects of Wanchese Harbor de- 

 velopment 

 Feb. 17 — What to do with the waste: the 



Wanchese solution 

 Feb. 24 — Natural coastal processes and 



inlet stabilization 

 March 3 — A harbor comes to town 

 March 10 — Possible open panel discus- 

 sion 



University of North Carolina 

 Sea Grant College Program 

 1235 Burlington Laboratories 

 North Carolina State University 

 Raleigh, N.C. 27607 



Second-class postage paid at Raleigh 



N.C. 27611 



