ORONO – Researchers at the University of Maine are cooking up something good. And depending on their success, many other people may also be able to cook it up as well.

Scientists from the university’s department of food science and human nutrition are looking into developing a method whereby pasta is flavored with lobster and crab. What they hope to develop, according to researcher Michael Murphy, is a new product that will make use of meats which traditionally have been wasted during other seafood processing operations.

Murphy said Tuesday that the new product would provide “a chance to utilize a natural resource that maybe isn’t completely utilized.”

Murphy said much of the edible meat in the legs and bodies of crabs and lobsters is wasted because it is so difficult to extract. The process for seafood pasta, he said, is to use a machine to extract the meat and then combine it in a mince that is used to season pasta. The result is a value-added seafood product that otherwise would have been thrown away.

“The pasta dough will have crab or lobster mince that will have been left over from a crab-picking operation,” Murphy said. “That mince will be incorporated in varying levels into the product.”

Murphy said he is studying how best to apply the mince to the pasta. Too much mince and the pasta tastes unpleasant and is susceptible to bacterial growth. Too little mince and the pasta lacks any flavor at all.

Murphy said the project is tied to a marine processing operation in Gouldsboro, Cranberry Point Products, which is supplying the University of Maine with the seafood for the study. If the project is successful, Murphy said, that business may be able to market the pasta for consumers.

The project is funded through a $10,000 grant from the Maine Technology Institute. The institute was founded in 1999 by the Legislature to promote new commercial products and services in the state. A matching grant was awarded to the project through the university’s department of industrial cooperation.

Bob Bayer, director of the Maine Lobster Institute, said Wednesday that once the new pasta is market-tested it would be made available to the public for production. The ultimate goal of the work, Bayer said, is to create products that will develop jobs for people here in Maine.

“I don’t think we’ll patent this,” Bayer said of the pasta. “I think it will go into the public domain.”

Bayer said that he hopes companies in Hancock or Washington counties such as Cranberry Point Products will use this and other value-added seafood products to reduce seafood waste and create new jobs for people in economically depressed areas.

Bayer said he hopes to have a product ready for test marketing by next fall. Marketing students will likely develop a marketing strategy for the pasta in order to find a commercial manufacturer, Bayer said.