Steamed Snails a Recipe for Eradication (Continued)
Laszlo Horvath, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design, and his team also received funding to test the treatment’s effect on packaging.
“These guys at the Brooks Forest Products Center are the perfect choice for doing that because of their experience working with packaging materials,” Mack added.
During the tests, the vacuum-steam process killed all the snails on the packaging material.
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has funded Chen and White’s vacuum-steam process research for several years and invested in the portable chamber earlier this year. “We think vacuum and steam has the most application with durable goods like tile and whole logs,” said Mack.
According to Mack, his agency initially funded their research in 2011 on whole logs that are used for veneer — namely, black cherry, American walnut, pignut hickory, tulip poplar, and red oak — which are exported.
“If the vacuum-steam process damages the product, industry does not want it,” Mack explained. “Dr. Chen conducted vacuum and steam tests to establish a thermal profile in test logs, and then looked at the impact on sawn veneer by evaluating the color and checking after treatments. The process passed those tests.”
White & Company Launches Best Load and Best Pallet Version 2.1, Will Exhibit at WPA Meeting
10 Pallets West
Unit loads of tiles are steamed in this treatment trailer. Snails crawl into the unit loads prior to shipment to the U.S.