unloaded at ports and at various other locations in the distribution chain. “They eat all kinds of stuff,” said Zhangjing Chen, a research scientist at the Brooks Forest Products Center in the college’s Department of Sustainable Biomaterials and one of the inventors of the vacuum-steam treatment.
“Snails can also be intermediate hosts for all kinds of parasites,” said Mack.
Chen harvested snails that were hanging under a railroad track in Baltimore, secured them in containers, and stored them at a quarantine lab at Virginia Tech to use in testing the treatment process. In an effort to approximate a natural infestation but also keep the snails from escaping, he put them in cheesecloth bags and placed them underneath the wrapping on a pallet full of Italian tile that was being held in the treatment chamber.
“The treatment cycle is to draw a vacuum, then inject steam, bring the temperature to 56 C (133 F), and hold it for 30 minutes,” said Professor Emeritus Marshall White, co-inventor of the process.
That temperature and
time schedule is adapted
from International
Standards for
Phytosanitary Measures
No. 15, developed by the
International Plant
Protection Convention
for the treatment of solid
wood packing material.
“That is where we
decided to start because
that temperature and
time does not harm the
material but kills pests,”
said Mack, whose agency
is funding Chen and
White’s research. “Part A
of the test is to look at
the efficacy of the
chamber treatment
against snails at a
temperature and energy
level that will not be
burdensome for
industry. Part B is to
look at the effect on
packaging.”
(Continued on Page 9)
NOVEMBER 2014