Herman Lankford 



Workers at Washington Crab Co. Inc. pick 

 about 28,000 pOUIldS of crabs a day, cartful by cartful. 



To ward off bacterial growth the meat is not allowt 

 to be wanner than about 70 degrees. 



hazards in seafood — such as salmonella 

 poisoning or histamine in fish — rather 

 than to detect and fix problems later. 



Businesses that handle all types of 

 seafood must follow HACCP's key 

 sanitation rules. In addition, written 

 safety plans are required for blue crab 

 processors, smoked fish processors, 

 dealers who sell shrimp treated with a 

 chemical called sulfite, dealers who sell 

 fish such as tuna that is histamine-prone 

 and shellfish dealers who buy or ship out 

 of state. 



Through his contacts, Nash has 

 found that businesses are genuinely 

 trying to comply with the program. 



"I can tell people want to be HACCP- 

 certified, not just because it's the law, but 

 because they want to make sure they do 

 what's right for their customers. I think 

 that's admirable," says Nash, who works 



at North 

 Carolina State 

 University's 

 Seafood Lab in 

 Morehead City. 



One year 

 into the program, 

 FDA representa- 

 tives and folks in 

 the seafood 



industry agree that HACCP is working, 

 and they wish the public were more 

 aware of it. Some business owners say 

 the Sea Grant training classes they took 

 to prepare for HACCP helped them 

 recognize potential hazards in their 

 operations. 



"There are a number of deficiencies 

 because it's a new program, which we 

 expected. But this year it's more of an 

 education," says Roger Kline, director 



of the FDA's investiga- 

 tions branch for the Atlanta 

 District, which includes 

 North Carolina, South 

 Carolina and Georgia. 



Still, North Carolina 

 seafood businesses — 

 often family-run opera- 

 tions — have had to pay a 

 price for this step toward 

 safer seafood. 



Jackie Varnam, who 

 with her husband Nicky 

 owns Garland's Fresh 

 Seafood in the Brunswick 

 County fishing 

 village of 

 Varnamtown, 

 says they don't 

 have the luxury 

 of a big staff to 

 keep up with 

 HACCP 

 paperwork. 

 Garland's, 

 which mainly 

 deals in 

 wholesale and 

 retail shrimp, 

 has one other 

 employee. 



"It's a lot 

 of paperwork 

 for small 

 businesses," 

 Varnam says. 

 "You take large 

 businesses, 

 they've got 

 somebody just 



to check the bathroom." 



But the Varnams are a determined 

 family. Nicky Varnam' s father had 

 opened the business for only two weeks 

 in 1954 when Hurricane Hazel 

 slammed it shut. He rebuilt the 

 business, though, and the younger 

 Varnams took over in 1984. 



HACCP hasn't changed the way 

 the Varnams do business "because we 

 keep things clean and have tried in the 



8 HOLIDAY 1998 



