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Given the growing global demand for seafood, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive study on the prevalence and persistence patterns of pathogenic bacteria and viruses associated with specific seafood varieties. This assessment thoroughly examines the safety of seafood products, considering the diverse processing methods employed in the industry. The importance of understanding the behavior of foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella typhimurium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Clostridium botulinum, Listeria monocytogenes, human norovirus, and hepatitis A virus, is emphasized by recent cases of gastroenteritis outbreaks linked to contaminated seafood. This analysis examines outbreaks linked to seafood in the United States and globally, with a particular emphasis on the health concerns posed by pathogenic bacteria and viruses to consumers. Ensuring the safety of seafood is crucial since it directly relates to consumer preferences on sustainability, food safety, provenance, and availability. The review focuses on assessing the frequency, growth, and durability of infections that arise during the processing of seafood. It utilizes next‐generation sequencing to identify the bacteria responsible for these illnesses. Additionally, it analyzes methods for preventing and intervening of infections while also considering the forthcoming challenges in ensuring the microbiological safety of seafood products. This evaluation emphasizes the significance of the seafood processing industry in promptly responding to evolving consumer preferences by offering current information on seafood hazards and future consumption patterns. To ensure the continuous safety and sustainable future of seafood products, it is crucial to identify and address possible threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies suggest that the hiring of migrants in the food processing industry has increased the migrant population outside large cities among affluent migrant-receiving countries. This study examines how the U.S. meatpacking industry and the Japanese seafood processing industry, in particular, have developed a dependence on migrants; it does so to identify whether and how a common—thus cross-nationally generalizable—process may account for migration outside large cities. A comparative historical analysis revealed that, with significant national differences between the United States and Japan, including in the legal and institutional contexts of migration, there is little commonality in the processes through which the industries have come to depend on migrants. Yet, there is a similarity in the development of mass production. Such production necessitates an undisrupted availability of full-time as well as low-wage workforce, and migrants on both sides of the Pacific are employed to ensure this availability. Thus, while urban-centered migration studies often emphasize the growth of low-wage services or small-batch manufacturing as an economic driver of migration, this study argues that, outside large cities, a different pattern of industrial transformation is associated with labor migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite evidence that seasonal variation may lead to the persistence of competing species, studies on the effect of seasonality on community network structures are sparse. Identifying whether seasonal network changes are the result of turnover or rewiring (i.e. rearrangement of interactions among species), also remains understudied in multi‐trophic communities. Using species abundance data for 38 species over three years (from nine sites across central/eastern United States) and a novel tree‐based inference method, we constructed seasonal networks for a multi‐trophic freshwater stream fish community. We found that seasonality influences species interactions, particularly through rewiring (81%) as compared to species turnover (19%). Moreover, the number of rewiring interactions was best explained by fish status as a piscivore/non‐piscivore and species maximum length (R2 = 0.41). Our findings suggest that rewiring may be a dominant process in stream fish communities experiencing seasonal environments and that traits linked to trophic‐level could be a good indicator of a species contribution to rewiring. As networks dominated by rewiring may be more robust, this network approach could be a valuable conservation tool for identifying which biological relationships must be retained for communities to avoid extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A just transition to renewable energy requires accounting for the effects of offshore wind projects (OWPs) on the fishing industry. Research on the interaction of OWPs with coastal communities and fisheries in the United Kingdom and the United States offers insights into minimizing conflict and enhancing constructive engagement between fishers and wind energy developers. Recent innovations include earlier and more meaningful inclusion of fisheries representatives in planning and decisionmaking, involving fisheries liaisons in the process, and conducting more cumulative studies and taking collaborative approaches to considering the effects of OWP on fishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus or Lutjanus purpureus) is one of the most commercially important and commonly mislabeled seafood species in the United States. Existing molecular methods for species identification are expensive and require being sent to an off-site laboratory, which takes multiple days to process. In this study, we have standardized a rapid rhPCR-coupled lateral flow assay for the identification of red snapper species. Our assay involved a simple heat-lysis DNA extraction procedure and a multiplex PCR reaction, consisting of a red snapper single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-specific rhPCR primer, thermotolerant RNase H2 enzyme, and an internal amplification control (IAC) for their onsite identification. Amplicons generated in the PCR reaction were detected using dual target lateral flow strips. The standardized assay was validated with 108 barcoded fish samples. Samples identified as Lutjanus campechanus or L. purpureus by DNA barcoding formed three distinct bands, while other fish species formed only two bands on the lateral flow strips. A minimum of 0.37 ng of crude DNA was detectable in the rhPCR reaction and generated a visible band on the lateral flow dipstick. The assay showed 100% specificity and took 90–120 min to complete. The assay generated results that can be used to authenticate red snapper at the wholesale and retail levels of seafood processing and commerce. Our results confirm the ability of rhPCR-lateral flow assays to be an alternative tool for onsite species authentication for the seafood industry. • A rhPCR-lateral flow assay for the identification of red snapper. • The rhPCR approach enabled SNP detection with conventional PCR. • The workflow eliminated non-specific results. • The assay can facilitate species authentication in a resource-limited setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US seafood industry is dependent on foreign workers. It is estimated that majority of seafood workers are foreign born. Labor is a major input in the seafood processing industry. Shortage in seafood workers (labor, majority of which are nonimmigrant H-2B workers) can significantly affect seafood production, processing, and result in severe financial problems. However, the relative significance of labor attributes that are most important in hiring decisions, including immigration status, are not clear. Seafood processor preferences for hiring employees are explored in light of references, wages, and immigration status. Using survey data and conjoint analysis, this study determines the relative importance of labor attributes and identifies distinct clusters of processors in terms of processor preferences for hiring labor. The H-2B program reduces companies' training and turnover costs. Many survey respondents complained about high turnover among US workers. Results indicate that for seafood processors, wage is the most important and visa status the least important factor when hiring seafood workers. Findings from this study may have important implications on economic impact studies using input/output models that usually use naïve assumptions regarding labor costs and hiring preferences [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses potential benefits and drawbacks of use of shrimp and salmon seafood futures contracts in the U.S. It informs that increase in seafood consumption and fishermen profitability enhances market efficiency and controls volatile price which help to recover from a financial crisis. It highlights the Commodity Exchange Act, and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 for reducing search and negotiation costs for producers and end user.

The article offers information on a study which aims to identify and prevent seafood contamination. It reports that the study was launched after the United States Food and Drug Administration announced new controls on several species of seafood imported from China due to unauthorized animal drugs and food additives detected in those products. It mentions that the compounds found in the seafood were the antimicrobial agents malachite green, nitrofurans, gentian violet, and fluoroquinole, many of each are carcinogenic. It suggests that fluoroquinolone is linked to the development of antibioticresistance in pathogenic bacteria. INSET: Crab or krab?.

Productivity growth of the catfish-processing sector in the United States was measured over the time period of 1986 through 2005. The analysis evaluated the efficiency with which products are produced by catfish processing plants. The Malmquist index is employed to decompose the total factor productivity into growth associated with technical efficiency change and technological progress. The relationship between Farrell's measure of technical efficiency and the Shepard's distance function provides the theoretical foundation for estimating the Malmquist production index using data envelopment analysis. The results indicate that, between 1986 and 2005, there was no technical progress or adoption of new techniques with significant impact on catfish processing. Technical efficiency change, which is associated with input use efficiency, varied with type of fish size processed. It decreased from 1985 to 1995 as the industry struggled to establish the most efficient fish size to process. Between 1995 and 2005 the fluctuation continued but at a higher mean. Productivity growth and long-term competitiveness are likely to result from adoption of new processing innovations by the catfish-processing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to assess any risk-shifting behavior in the catfish market between processors and farmers. Over 93% of farm-raised catfish are sold through fish processing companies, and processors largely dictate the terms of trade, particularly size requirements. The classic agency theory model was used to investigate the relationship between catfish processors (principals) and catfish farmers (agents). The study used time-series regression techniques, incorporated into the classic principal-agent model, to examine the risk behavior of catfish processors. Results indicate that catfish processors do not shift risk, but bear all market risk. It appears that catfish processors maximize expected payoff by paying lower price to farmers and extract trade gains from bearing the market risks. Farmers may implicitly be paying high premiums by receiving lower prices. Delivery rights offered to catfish farmers as incentives for them to meet certain delivery conditions do not appear to have shifted risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muth's model is adapted to determine the effects of generic advertising on upstream factor markets in a competitive industry where funds for promotion are raised through a feed tax. Optimality conditions indicate that a feed tax is an inferior funding mechanism. That is, the resulting promotion budget, in general, is too small to maximize producer surplus at the farm level. Applying the model to the U.S. catfish industry, results suggest that raising the feed tax from $5 to $6 per ton is welfare increasing for farm, feed, and non-feed sectors alike. Distributional analysis suggests that the processing sector captures most of the long-term benefits (51%), followed by the non-feed sector (42%). Despite the feed sector's modest share of total benefits (7%), owing to tax shifting its long-run benefit-cost ratio (1.8:1) is favorable. Because feed and non-feed inputs are gross substitutes, the feed tax generates a positive externality for non-feed suppliers. Accounting for this externality raises the non-feed sector's net benefit by 36%. Overall, about one-half of the program's long-term net benefits accrue to input suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the content of Task Order #2: Processing Parameters Needed to Control Hazards in Cold-Smoked Fish conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the task order, hot-smoked fish receives a cook for a temperature that inactivate vegetative pathogens. It indicates that because cold-smoked products do not receive a heat treatment during processing adequate to inactivate vegetative pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes, if present, may survive. It also notes that the issue of Listeria monocytogenes in hot-smoked fish is the need to prevent recontamination after the cook through plant sanitation and other methods.

This article discusses the scope of work assigned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) under a study on processing parameters needed to control pathogens in cold-smoked fish. The IFT shall do an in-depth review on the processing parameters that may contribute to Listeria monocytogenes contamination of product. The institute shall do an in-depth review on the options available to eliminate or inhibit those organisms of public health concern in smoked fish products. In addition, the IFT shall evaluate the various packaging options and their effect on the inhibition of spoilage bacteria and the outgrowth of pathogens.