side a modern room at the top of Rose 

 Bay Oyster Company headquarters, Connell 

 Purvis pitches his newest product — a "lightly 

 breaded and crisp" oyster wrapped in bacon. 



"We don't use bits and pieces of oysters," 

 says Purvis while standing near a window that 

 overlooks Rose Bay in Swan Quarter. "We use a 

 whole oyster for this product. Also, there is less 

 than 10 percent breading. This will be our first 

 bacon-wrapped oyster." 



The new product is just one item that Pur- 

 vis showcases to Canadian seafood buyers on a 



marketing trip sponsored by the N.C. Department 

 of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Purvis 

 also touts oyster stew made from his mama's "old- 

 fashioned recipe" and steamed oysters. 



The bacon-wrapped oyster, which is a 

 "value-added product," will debut in March at 

 the 2004 International Boston Seafood Show. 

 Barry Nash, North Carolina Sea Grant seafood 

 technology and marketing specialist, guided the 

 development of the new seafood item. 



Value-added products are processed to create 

 new forms, flavors and textures from a variety of 



raw ingredients. Nash says that "value," in this 

 context, means "using processing techniques, 

 novel ingredients or packaging to enhance the 

 health attributes, the sensory characteristics, or 

 the shelf life of food." 



Traditionally, the Rose Bay Oyster product 

 list consisted of seafood products to be used as 

 ingredients, including fresh-shucked oysters. 



"We are aggressively moving into value- 

 added products," says Purvis, general manager of 

 Rose Bay Oyster Company. 'This company has 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 27 



