we have an extensive program in place it s a cooperative program between noaa, fda, epa, the gulf states, and we re all working together to ensure that the seafood is safe. reporter: but no one can be sure. that s because we don t know exactly how much oil is leaking. and more importantly, exactly where it is going. talking to a lot of scientists and you may know some of this, but the oil as it starts to break up, various compounds that are not oil so to speak anymore. they re just these aromatic hydrocarbon, voltime compound that can go all over the place. that s what makes it so difficult. how do you know if it s not oil, per se, but some of the toxic elements aimed further away in an area that doesn t have oil. that s why this testing program deals both with the sensory, to be able to detect oil and those aromatic carbons and analytical chemistry to also detect those aromatic
states and we re all working together to ensure that seafood is safe. but no one can be sure. that s because we don t know exactly how much oil is leaking. more importantly, exactly where it is going. we ve been talking to a lot of scientists and you may know some of this but they say the oil, as it starts to break up, you get all these various compounds that are not oil, so to speak, anymore. they are these aromatic hydro carbons, these volatile compounds, and they can go all over the place. south florida yes. that s what i think makes it so difficult. how do you know if it s not oil, per se, but still some of the toxic elements that land further away in an area that doesn t have oil? correct. that s why this testing program deals both with the sensory, to be able to detect oil and those aromatic carbons and the analytic chemistry to also detect those aromatic carbons.
toxic elements that land further away in an area that doesn t have oil? correct. that s why this testing program deals both with the sensory, to be able to detect oil and those aromatic carbons and the analytic testing. sensory testing takes place inside this room. they have testers up and down here. actually, this is uncooked fish. you just get a little smell of this. and then determine what you think the score is, what the likelihood that this is contaminated. the next step, the taste test. your nose, your sense of smell working and now is the sense of taste. they pointed out to me that even if this was contaminated, eating a small amount like this would not be problematic. you eat this. you don t swallow it, they say. you don t want to ruin the rest of your testing. here it goes.
got a lot of fish behind us here. bagged and tagged. bagged and tagged, yes, they are. very important so we know where they come from. this is part of the process? part of the process. this is john stein. you go around the country, talk to people about what s happening in the gulf. the question always comes up, is the seafood safe. yes. and you say? yes. we have an extensive program in place, cooperative program between noaa, fda, epa, gulf states and we re all working together to ensure that seafood is safe. but no one can be sure. that s because we don t know exactly how much oil is leaking. more importantly, exactly where it is going. we ve been talking to a lot of scientists and you may know some of this but they say the oil, as it starts break up, you get all these various compounds that are not oil, so to speak, anymore. they re these aromatic hydrocarbons and they can go all over the place. that s what i think make it is so difficult. how do you know if it s
and we re all working together to ensure that seafood is safe. but no one can be sure. and that s because we don t know exactly how much oil is leaking. and more importantly, exactly where it is going. we ve been talking about scientists, and is you may know some of this, but they say the oil as it starts to break up, you get all these various compounds that are not oil, so to speak, anymore. they re just aromatic hydro carbons. yes. and they can go all over the place. and that s what i think makes it so difficult. how do you know if it s not oil per se, but some of the toxic elements further away in an area that doesn t have oil. correct. that s why this testing program deals both with the sensory to be able to detect oil and the arrow mattic carbons and the chemistry to detect the hydrocarbons. so to get a peek behind the curtain into this room where sensory testing takes place. they have typically testers all up and down here. and one of the first things do you is actu