Investigation and prevention of insect contamination of a high-value marine plant product

通过大规模的户外水箱生产，印度海洋植物有限公司（ASL）是世界上最大的海藻角叉菜（Chondrus crispus）独立制造商，角叉菜是一种珍贵的食品，在国际市场上售价为50 -100美元/公斤。国际市场，主要是日本的买家，要求非常高的质量，对昆虫和昆虫碎片的耐受性很低，基本上需要100%纯海藻成分。ASL目前经历了低水平的污染，从昆虫的户外坦克，持有和增长的C。许多采后质量控制措施被用来解决这个问题，但低水平的昆虫和昆虫部分继续坚持在可销售的C。crispus产品。因此，ASL需要减少在收获前进入室外生产罐的昆虫数量，但对问题没有足够的了解来制定干预措施。拟议的研究将调查收获前影响昆虫存在的因素，在一个高价值的海洋植物产品。这项研究将解决ASL确定的四个问题：（1）哪些昆虫群体对产品质量构成最大威胁？(2)什么样的空间或管理因素最能解释昆虫的发生率？(3)什么样的时间变化与收获物中的昆虫发生率有关？以及（4）经修改的水箱设计或围栏是否可提供减少昆虫污染的空间？通过一个全面的季节调查（1-3）和昆虫飞行习性的生态学研究（4），我们将分别量化解释收获产品中昆虫存在的因素，并提出潜在的解决方案来限制它。ASL相信这项拟议的研究将通过指导收获前的管理实践，为优化产品质量提供见解和方向。

Through large-scale outdoor production in tanks, Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL) is the worlds largestindependent manufacturer of the seaweed Chondrus crispus, a prized food product that sells for $50-100/kg ininternational markets. International markets, mainly buyers in Japan, demand exceptionally high quality, andhave low tolerance for insects and insect fragments, essentially requiring 100% pure seaweed ingredients. ASLcurrently experiences low-level contamination from insects of its outdoor tanks that hold and grow C. crispus.Numerous post-harvest quality control measures are used to address this problem, but low levels of insects andinsect parts continue to persist in the salable C. crispus product. ASL therefore needs to reduce the quantity ofinsects entering outdoor production tanks prior to harvest, but does not have adequate understanding of theproblem to enact interventions. The proposed research will investigate pre-harvest factors influencing insectpresence in a high-value marine plant product. The research will address four questions identified by ASL: (1)What insect groups pose the largest threat to product quality?; (2) What spatial or management factors moststrongly explain insect incidence?; (3) What temporal variation is associated with insect incidence in harvestedproduct?; and (4) Can modified tank design or fencing offer scope in reducing insect contamination?Through a comprehensive season-long survey (1-3), and an ecological study of insect flight habits (4), we hopeto, respectively, quantify the factors which explain the presence of insects in harvested product, and proposepotential solutions to limit it. ASL believes this proposed research will provide insight and direction foroptimizing product quality, via informing pre-harvest management practices.