Lobster Trade Grows, but in Canada

choi

Ana Swanson, Lobster Trade Grows, but in Canada. New York Times, Nov 13, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/ ... lobster-canada.html

Quote:

"CENTREVILLE, Nova Scotia — This lobster factory on a windswept bay in eastern Canada is so remote that its workers have to drive for miles just to get cellphone service. But Gidney Fisheries is truly global, with its lobsters landing on plates in Paris and Shanghai through trade agreements hammered out in far-off capitals. * * * A new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union has slashed tariffs on imports of Canadian lobsters [see quotation 3]. That means more 747s [airlifting lobsters] * * * The factory, which in the 1800s sent its lobsters to Boston by steamship

"When Americans think about lobster, Maine often comes to mind. But Nova Scotia has emerged as a fierce competitor in exporting lobsters, particularly to Europe. Last year, American lobstermen sold only slightly more to Europe than their Canadian counterparts.

"the Canadian-European trade pact, which eliminated an 8 percent European tariff on live lobster when it went into effect in September. Tariffs on frozen and processed Canadian lobster will be phased out in the next three to five years as part of the agreement.

"Gidney Fisheries, which exports live and frozen lobster * * * The company imported a German machine, sometimes used to make cold-pressed juice, that creates pressure of up to 87,000 pounds per square inch. The machine compresses the lobster in its shell, breaking the connective tissue, killing the lobster in seconds and allowing the meat to be extracted entirely raw — a selling point for chefs and consumers, as the process is considered relatively humane.

"A dozen workers smashed claws, used tiny air hoses to remove entrails and sorted peachy-pink lobster meat into various packages to be flash frozen.  'A decade or two ago, there would be very few players who would have been shipping internationally,' Mr [Robert] MacDonald[, president of Gidney Fisheries,] said. 'We now ship live lobsters all over the world.'

"Once mostly confined to the plates of the rich, lobster has gone mass market. A glut in the global catch roughly five years ago — the product of overfishing cod, a natural lobster predator — caused the price to plummet.

"Gidney Fisheries' largest market by far is still the United State

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest, which mostly criticize Trump's trade policies.

(b)
(i) There are five places named Centreville in Nova Scotia. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centreville,_Nova_Scotia
(ii) Gidney Fisherie is located at Centreville, Digby, Nova Scotia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centreville,_Digby,_Nova_Scotia

(c) The CEO of Gidney Fisheries is Barry C Gidney, whose great grandfather Samuel Gidney started the business in 1892.
http://gidneyfisheries.ca/history

(Yes, it is far different from "1800s" in quotation 1. The "1800s" is ambiguous, it can mean either the first decade of the nineteenth century, or the entire century.)

(d)
(i) HPP Frozen Lobster. Gidney Fisheries, undated
https://gidneyfisheries.ca/hpp_frozen_lobster

the first four paragraphs:

"What is High Pressure Processing?

"HPP or High Pressure Processing, is a relatively new technology in the frozen lobster processing industry.

"Our German engineered and custom designed HPP equipment has a high presure operating vessel/cylinder which is filled with highly purified natural water and pressurized to internal chamber pressures of up to 87,000 PSI (pounds per square inch). When lobsters are placed into the HPP chamber for a normal operating cycle, the pressure compresses the meat within the lobster shell breaking the bond of the connective tissue and meat from the external shell. The resulting lobster meat is completely raw and expertly extracted from the shell entirely intact with no damage. The raw lobster meat has had no heat applied and no additives to adulterate or change our finished product’s natural flavour. An added benefit of our HPP technology is that the lobster is tenderized during processing, leaving the meat tender and flavourful.

"Raw shucked lobster meats are then cryogenically frozen in our CO2 freezer at -70°C to -80°C which flash freezes the meat for optimum “sushi grade” quality and vaccum sealed and thermoformed in fully customizable sized bags or skin-packed on trays.

(ii) The NYT report online has a photo of the raw, HPP-treated lobster meat.
(iii) HPP Lobster Video. YouTube.com, published by R Stephen Lynch & Co, Inc (an HPP maker) on Apr 5, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cm6IDULst8
(iv) Pascalization
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascalization
(high pressure processing (HPP); leads to poor flavor)
(v) HPP is not high tech: even Chinese companies make the equipment.