Outreach & Extension: Seafood Technology

Technological advances can bring marked benefits to the seafood industry and consumers alike. Sea Grant Extension specialists work closely with coastal communities to promote advances in seafood technology, product quality, food safety and regulatory compliance. Expertise in seafood processing has helped small, independently-operated companies develop methods for adding value to their products and to understand and implement a system of controls and monitoring for food safety hazards, such as pathogenic microorganisms and toxins.

Finfish

Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program has made important steps toward enhancing industry compliance regarding histamine production which can cause scombroid poisoning, the most common cause of finfish-related illness in the U.S. — occurring when certain species are temperature-abused. Under the leadership of Sea Grant seafood specialist Thomas Rippen, a bi-coastal team developed a brochure aimed at preventing scombroid poisoning.

Crabs

The crab industry holds great cultural and economic significance to Maryland’s coastal communities.

Assuring Seafood Safety

In an effort to ensure the industry’s safety, Sea Grant coordinates the Maryland Crabmeat Quality Assurance Program for the University of Maryland, Maryland Department of Agriculture (Seafood Marketing Program) and the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association. The Program has helped to significantly reduce incidences of the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in processed crabmeat. Designed for crab processors, the Program includes microbiological sampling of in-line and finished products and sanitary audits. The program analyzes and prepares sanitary audits for roughly 1,400 samples each year. Prior to this effort, which began in 1995, 8 percent of all crab sampled was positive for Listeria monocytogenes. By 2005, no Listeria was isolated from crabmeat samples in Maryland or from any plant surfaces.

Adding Economic Value

Due to changing market pressures, loss of jobs and plant closures, seafood industry leaders requested help from Sea Grant to improve the profitability of crab processing operations. With funding from National Marine Fisheries, Maryland Sea Grant works with packaging manufacturers to develop plastic containers for pasteurized crabmeat, as an alternative to metal cans. Past efforts in this area have been disappointing, but two systems now show promise. One of these, a vacuum-shrink film on tray system, produces reliable results, with shelf-life properties (bacterial growth rates) equivalent to tinplate cans.

Crabmeat shell content poses a major marketing problem for the United States, since competing imported products tend to contain very little shell. Maryland Sea Grant evaluated various ultraviolet light sources and found one to be effective in consistently identifying (fluorescing) shell to distinguish it from crabmeat and developed an inspection chamber. Maryland processors are currently testing these prototypes.

To more fully realize the profit potential from crabmeat, Sea Grant Extension also explores technologies to add value to relatively low value grades of crabmeat. The seafood industry showed interest in restructuring special (flake) crabmeat into larger pieces. Sea Grant faculty have now demonstrated the technological feasibility of creating a fibrous textured crab product with flavor and texture similar to whole jumbo lump meat.

Useful Links

HACCP
Safe Food Depends on You
Controlling Listeria in Crab Processing Plants
Keeping Crab Plants Clean
Maryland Crabmeat Quality Assurance Program