PASCAGOULA — Expert sniffers are still hard at work at the NOAA Fisheries Lab to ease public concerns about eating seafood from the Gulf.
NOAA officials hosted a media tour Tuesday to reassure the public about the rigorous seafood-testing process.
“When we close fishing waters, it is the first line of defense to prevent contaminated seafood from entering the marketplace,” Calvin Walker of NOAA said. “Our seafood sniffers and tasters are called a sensory team and work every day. Every fish, crab or shrimp that comes to this facility is treated like evidence. We will continue this rigorous testing.”
Sensory testers smell for the scent of oil or chemicals that differ from the normal odor of fish and shellfish.
“When we get a whiff of oil in a seafood sample, we know that the product is unfit for both human consumption and for commercial sale,” Walker said. “We have only had one failed seafood test and that was in May. But everything goes from our sensory team to a chemical-testing process, too.”
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Herald (Biloxi-Gulfport and South Mississippi).
Photo by Leigh Coleman, Special to the Sun Herald