PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



"Some companies in eastern 

 North Carolina could learn from 

 the company's stellar promotion of 

 seafood," says Nash. 'The manager gets 

 consumers interested in his products by 

 setting up his own retail stores in small 

 cities." 



While at the facility, 

 Nash updated the staff on key 

 sanitation procedures processing 

 companies in the U.S. must 

 follow — from prevention 

 of cross-contamination from 

 unsanitary objects and food 

 contact surfaces, to using proper 

 handwashing, sanitizing and 

 toilet facilities. 



"I saw room for 

 improvement of basic sanitation 

 procedures," says Nash. "For 

 example, instead of just washing 

 surfaces with soap and water, 

 the staff needs to sanitize the 

 surfaces with chlorinated water." 



During Nash's visit, 

 the company's largest plant 

 located in the industrial center of Rossosh in the 

 Voronezh Region took his recommendation of 

 placing buckets of salted sprat on wooden pallets 

 rather than on the floors. 



"This reduces the risk of contamination 

 from spoilage or disease-causing bacteria," 

 Nash says. 'To control the spread of bacteria to 

 seafood, the production personnel also began 

 cleaning utensils with chlorinated water and 

 soaking the utensils when not in use." 



HACCP GUIDELINES 



Nash also provided the staff with a 

 Russian translation of the Hazard Analysis and 

 Critical Control Point (HACCP) seafood safety 

 monitoring guidelines. In the United States, the 

 Food and Drug Administration mandates that all 

 seafood packers, manufacturers and importers 

 conduct a hazard analysis of their operations and 

 develop a program that controls certain hazards 

 that could cause illness or injury to consumers. 



To explain HACCP principles, Nash 

 provided a sample HACCP plan for smoked 

 trout. He also conducted a safety analysis of 

 marine species used at the plants. 



"I emphasized that the measures used 



TOP: One ofRybalkma's plants is in Pavlovsk, south of Voronezh. 

 BOTTOM: Fish thaw prior to brining. 



to minimize the growth of disease-causing 

 bacteria also enhance the quality and extend 

 the shelf life of seafood," he says. "Most of 

 the company's quality problems were related 

 to smoked foods. They need to have better 

 control over temperature, humidity and air 

 flow on equipment, which will likely require 

 the purchase of new automated smokers." 



Currently, the company is equipped with 

 old Soviet-style smoking chambers developed 

 after World War H, as well as freezers and 

 Dutch vacuum-packing machines. 



Nash says that automated equipment 

 will improve the quality of smoked and dried 

 products. Most of the current machines are 

 manually operated. Also, many other tasks are 

 done by hand, including fish filleting. 



"This reliance on hand labor limits 

 production output," says Nash. "I presented 

 information on a number of automated 

 heading, gutting, skinning and filleting 

 machines that will significantly increase 

 production volume." 



Nash also suggested using a rating 

 system that categorizes seafood by "first 

 quality," "second quality" or "reject." 



PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT 



To meet Russian consumers' 

 demand for processed food, Nash 

 provided the general director with 

 1 1 salad formulations to consider as 

 additions to its product line. 



"They think of seaweed 

 as a basic salad," says Nash. 

 "But they were open to using 

 applications to make different 

 products." 



For laminaria, Nash also 

 demonstrated the use of textured 

 wheat protein that can be used 

 as a seafood substitute. "When 

 using textured vegetable protein, 

 you use less seafood," Nash 

 says. 



To improve the consistency 

 of fish pastes, he showed the 

 staff how to use the emulsifying 

 agent lecithin. 



"Currently, the oil and 

 water phases of the paste sepa- 

 rate during storage and create a 

 visually unappealing product," 

 he explains. "Lecithin will greatly enhance the 

 perceived quality of the fish paste line." 



To transform trimmings from fish preserves 

 into a saleable product, Nash recommended 

 adding the transglutaminase enzyme that is used in 

 the United States to bind sea scallops, resulting in 

 doubling or tripling of the price in some American 

 markets. 



"Using this binding product could 

 transform the preserve trimmings into a value- 

 added product," he adds. 



With the use of new technology and machin- 

 ery, Nash says the enterprise will be able to meet 

 the growing demands of its customer bases. 



And Nash believes laminaria could succeed 

 in some U.S. markets. 



"Although laminaria won't appeal to 

 all consumers, I think it would sell well in 

 high-end markets because of its flavor and 

 visual appeal." □ 



To find out more about ACDI/VOCA, visit the 

 Web: www.acdivoca.org. 



To learn more about HACCP, go to www.fda. 

 gov/ and click on "index" to find "HACCP. " Or, visit the 

 Association of Food & Drug Officials' Web site: www. 

 afdo.org/ and find "HACCP training. " 



28 Coastwatch I Winter 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 



