Morse quoted in Press Herald article on eating scallops
Dana Morse, an aquaculture researcher with Maine Sea Grant who works with oysters and other shellfish, spoke with the Portland Press Herald for the article, “Why don’t we apply the principles of nose-to-tail eating to scallops?” as part of the “Green Plate Special” column. According to Morse, most Americans eat only the scallop’s adductor muscle because it is typically free of hazardous biotoxins the animal is exposed to when it encounters algal blooms. The remaining edible parts of the scallop — the roe and milt — may hold on to the toxins, making them unsafe to eat, according to the article. Last year, Morse secured a grant to help fishermen figure out when and how often their scallops will need to be tested for toxins. He is working with scallop growers and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences to establish affordable protocols fishermen could follow and to collect baseline data for the toxicity levels of the various parts of these farmed scallops, the article states.