Mark,
The plant may be actually cultivating coliforms in their waste treatment
system. I am aware of two companies that only had a problem after they
installed effluent holding or settling tanks. Protein rich but sterile
cooker water going into treatment came out with reduced BOD loads and high
coliform counts.
Tom Rippen
University of Maryland
----- Original Message -----
From: "Henderson, Mark" <mhen461@ECY.WA.GOV>
To: <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2001 08:08 PM
Subject: Seafood Processing and Fecal Coliform Bacteria
> I work with the Washington State Dept. of Ecology and sit on a couple of
> > citizens groups regarding the closure of commercial shellfish beds. Our
> > goal is to have these beds re-opened. One of the closed shellfish areas
> is
> > an embayment with a seafood processor contributing their effluent to the
> > harbor. The seafood processor processes bottom fish, dungeness crab (in
> > season), and wild salmon (in season) a few days a week and contributes
low
> > volumes of effluent. They monitor their effluent by taking grab samples
> and
> > testing for fecal coliform bacteria among other things. Results show
high
> > levels (in the 10,000's) of fecal coliform bacteria monthly.
> >
> > I am not aware of either bottom fish, free swimming fish, or crustaceans
> > having fecal coliform bacteria present in their systems. Are you aware
of
> > any research or information regarding this subject? We are trying to
> > determine the source of these high levels of fecal coliform bacteria and
> > want to rule out the product (fish or crab processed) before we begin to
> > pursue possible rodent and bird vectors.
> Mark Henderson
> Bellingham Field Office
> (360) 676-2198
> mhen461@ecy.wa.gov
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 04 2001 - 08:04:10 PST