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16/11/2012

 

Hygiene is a Priority

In addition to the storage facility, personnel, clothing and equipment must be maintained in a sanitary manner. Waste must be disposed properly to reduce the risk of contamination to the product and to the environment.

While large ships may have entire processing operations aboard that operate under a full food safety program, some smaller vessels have begun instituting HACCP plans and GMPs over the last 10 to 15 years. These practices start with the condition of the boat itself: The structure must be designed to process, handle and store the seafood. Any equipment being used, such as the knives or other eviscerating tools, shovels, etc., must be cleaned, sanitized and stored in a sanitary manner. The ice production and storage must be clean and sanitary. The temperature at which the seafood is held generally becomes the critical control point, while there may actually be other critical control points, depending on the boat’s structure and any processing that is being done on board.

In the case of whole fish, the processing challenges may not end there. Whole fish must be moved from the boat to a container that allows the product to be sold straight to the consumer. This transfer creates the potential for contamination and safe-temperature violation. To avoid the risk, industry best practices dictate the seafood must be placed on ice into sanitary, insulated fiberboard boxes or other hard plastic containers while on board the vessel, thus reducing the handling requirements for transferring the product from the boat to the consumer.

When the seafood reaches what the other animal protein industries would consider the “processing facility,” seafood typically must undergo more manual handling than other animal proteins. Most seafood is wet packed or placed on ice, while the remainder of animal proteins is sold under dry pack conditions. Even live seafood products, such as shellfish and finfish, must be kept in proper water or proper moisture to keep them alive. These tanks require maintenance and, if not done properly, the tank itself can be a source of contamination.

 

Contaminant Concerns

In addition to unique handling requirements, seafood is subject to a host of  contaminants other animal proteins need not worry about, such as mercury,  clostridium botulium E, vibrio, scombrotoxin (histamine), and other natural toxins like ciguatoxin and neurotoxins, just to name a few. In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the list of hazards found in their Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Control Guidance. Species, water source and harvest location dictate which types of contaminants must be tested for and how the test must be conducted. Fortunately, in the past few decades, the seafood industry and government regulatory bodies have worked together to develop systems to test and inspect the water and the products to reduce and eliminate these contaminants from entering the food supply wherever possible.

Given the recent development of aquaculture practices, veterinary drugs — once only a factor in other animal product industries — have now become a concern in the seafood business as well, and the entire animal protein industry now battles constantly to eliminate illegal or improper use of veterinary drugs.