Consumer Information and Professional Services
How Can We Help You?
The laboratory’s core goal is to put more seafood on the table. The staff welcomes questions such as how to tell if fish is fresh or how to safely store the weekend’s catch.
How You Can Help Us
The human senses are still considered the ultimate tool for judging the appeal of fishery products. The laboratory often calls upon its public for taste tests and sensory research.
Trained sensory panelists evaluate specific characteristics of farm-raised fish, both raw and cooked, to determine how different harvesting and handling techniques affect quality and shelf life.
Cooking the Catch
Seafood cooks who are arguably the best in Carteret County meet monthly in the laboratory test kitchen to stir up new recipes. Some of the delicious results are meant for the family table. Others are part of the lab’s product development work with industry and entrepreneurs.
Each of the “Nutrition Leaders” represents a Carteret County extension club. Led by long-time NC Sea Grant seafood education specialist Joyce Taylor, the gatherings began more than three decades ago. In 2003, Taylor compiled their experience and their best work in Mariner’s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood Ideas.
Extension Education Services
For Restaurant and Retail Inspectors
The Seafood Laboratory works with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, the NC Shellfish Sanitation Branch and other agencies to annually offer a seafood school called “Seafood Safety & Quality for Environmental Health Specialists.”
The 3-day workshop is accredited as continuing education for recertification requirements. To register, Call 919-966-1104 (UNC-CH) or 252-726-6827 (NC Shellfish Sanitation Branch).
Read All About It
Is Our Seafood Safe to Eat?
Mercury in Fish
Seafood Information Network