Quinlan’s offered reporters a tour of its production facility in Bay de Verde this morning on this, the last day of production on the snow crab line.

The company was charged by provincial government inspectors last month for allegedly processing and transporting dead snow crab.

The action was taken following inspections by provincial fisheries officials on May 30 and June 29 of this year.

President Robin Quinlan compared the actions of provincial inspectors to that of judge, jury and executioner. The entire haul was seized, and Quinlan expected that the product would be stored in a secure location until he had his day in court, but that was not the case he said in a news conference earlier this month.

Today, Quinlan walked reporters through the company’s processing facility, outlining the entire process from water to packaging as the snow crab season draws to a close.

“To date, 10,000 tonnes of raw material have passed through those doors” Quinlan told reporters, “and on this day, the staff…want to offer 100 per cent transparency.”

Regional Manager Kristinn Skulason says food safety is their highest priority because their livelihoods depend on it. He says the issue is not whether government should be doing inspections, something they welcome, but whether the current regulations and protocols being used does “anything more than result in unnecessary wastage of good food.”