Greenhead Lobster, based in Stonington, Maine, has begun production from a new processing facility located in Bucksport, Maine.
The new facility, operating as Greenhead Lobster Products, will allow the company to have “full traceability” of products from the landing point to the finished fresh or frozen product. According to a release from the company, the facility has a Hiperbaric 420i, which humanely kills the lobsters and neutralizes any pathogens present.
Greenhead purchases its lobsters from 140 independent fishermen and women out of Stonington and Deer Isle, who fish out of the Penobscot Bay region. The lobsters are then transported to Bucksport the day after they are caught.
“The opening of Greenhead Lobster Products follows President Trump’s Chinese Tariffs and the free trade agreement on seafood between Canada and Europe in 2017 which took a drastic toll on the lobster export business,” the company stated in a release. “Now relying primarily on domestic sales Greenhead Lobster intends to broaden their market with value added lobster products.”
“We brought a lot of technology and innovation into this place, and we want to do it right,” Hugh Reynolds, the owner of Greenhead Lobster, said.
Kris Grimnes will be overseeing the new facility as its operations manager, and Sarah Fader was appointed to the position of food safety and quality assurance manager. When fully running by late September, the company estimates the facility will employ upwards of 50 full-time employees.
Photo courtesy of Greenhead Lobster