18 AAC 34.105 - Handling

(a) A processor shall inspect seafood products and food ingredients to assure that they are wholesome, and that they are not misbranded or adulterated. Only wholesome and unadulterated products may be processed. Records of the condition of incoming seafood products must be retained for the time specified in 18 AAC 34.920(b).

(b) A processor shall identify, by label or otherwise, and segregate seafood caught while sport fishing, subsistence fishing, or personal use fishing from commercially-caught seafood during all aspects of processing.

(c) A processor who handles, stores, or transports seafood products shall do so under conditions that prevent product contamination and deterioration of the product and product container. The processor shall hold seafood products upon receipt at a temperature of not more than 45º Fahrenheit until processing of the seafood product begins.

(d) Vessels or vehicles, including tenders, used to transport raw seafood products must provide adequate ice or other temperature control and adequate protection against bird droppings and sun when holding or transporting seafood products.

(e) Pitching or puncturing raw seafood product using a long-handled implement is prohibited. Hand gaff hooks are allowed if used only in a portion of the seafood product that will be discarded as waste by the processor or will not otherwise be used for human consumption.

(f) The processor shall, upon receipt and before additional processing or packaging, inspect and adequately wash seafood products, including those butchered or filleted in another permitted facility.

(g) Seafood products that are frozen when received must be kept frozen until used or, if thawed, must be kept refrigerated or must be processed within one hour. Frozen seafood product must be thawed in a sanitary manner under cold running water, refrigeration, or another means approved by the department to protect product wholesomeness.

(h) Except for shelf-stable salted seafood products subject to 18 AAC 34.122(7), wet brining or dry salting of raw seafood product must be done under refrigeration unless the brining or salting will be completed within four hours.

(i) After a smoked or cooked seafood product cools to an internal temperature of 140º Fahrenheit,

(1) the product must be further cooled to an internal temperature of no more than 70º Fahrenheit within two hours; and

(2) the product must continue to be cooled to an internal temperature of no more than 50º Fahrenheit within four hours after the product was cooled to an internal temperature of no more than 70º Fahrenheit.

(j) A reduced oxygen or modified atmosphere packaged seafood product that is not shelf stable must, within four hours after packaging, be frozen, or refrigerated to an internal temperature of 38º Fahrenheit.

(k) A processor shall inspect packaging processes, materials, and containers to ensure that they will not contaminate seafood products or food ingredients and will protect the products from contamination.

(l) The department will, in its discretion, allow an adulterated seafood product to be stored in a facility only if the product is adequately identified and segregated from seafood products that are unadulterated.

(m) Areas and equipment used to process seafood products for human consumption may not be used to process game, meat, animal feed, or inedible products unless the processor ensures that the seafood products for human consumption will not be contaminated.

Notes

18 AAC 34.105

Eff. 12/18/97, Register 144; readopt 12/2/99, Register 152

Effective 12/2/99, Register 152, the Department of Environmental Conservation readopted 18 AAC 34.105, without change, to affirm the validity of that section following statutory amendments made in ch. 72, SLA 1998. Chapter 72, SLA 1998 relocated department authority to adopt regulations in 18 AAC 34 from AS 03.05 to AS 17.20.

Authority:AS 17.20.005

AS 17.20.065

AS 17.20.072

AS 17.20.180

AS 44.46.020