178 DESCRIPTION OF IMPORTANT FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS 



The tails are now inspected again for fragments of shell or vein and 

 for damage, and those that require additional cleaning are given to 

 workers for this purpose. The cleaned shrimp are now placed in packages 

 for freezing, or are put on metal sheets so that they do not touch each 

 other, or are pinned to a moving line to be frozen individually. Freezing 

 is usually done at about — 10 to — 20°F, and the operation takes about 

 25 minutes. The packaged shrimp are glazed by putting a small quantity 

 of water in the frozen package or, in the case of the individually frozen 

 shrimp, by dipping them in a vat of water. These shrimp are packaged, 

 weighed, closed, and put in master cartons. 



Breaded Shrimp. Frozen breaded shrimp were first produced in 1948. 

 The Trade Winds Company of Georgia was the first firm to manufacture 

 frozen breaded shrimp; in 1959, 48 plants in 13 states were engaged in 

 this activity. Half of these plants, in Florida, Texas, and Georgia, 

 accounted for 85 per cent of the breaded shrimp production in that year. 

 While frozen breaded shrimp was the principal product of most plants 

 manufacturing this item, other seafoods, including frozen shell-on shrimp, 

 frozen peeled and deveined shrimp, and shrimp specialities, are also pro- 

 duced by the same plants. The quantities of frozen breaded shrimp in 

 1959 are shown in Table 12.5. 



Breaders prefer to use fresh shrimp as their raw material since it is 

 stated that yields are better than those from frozen shrimp. However, 

 supplies of raw shrimp are often insufficient and large quantities of frozen 

 shrimp are used by the breaders. In 1959, over a quarter of the shrimp 

 used by breading firms was imported frozen shrimp. 



When fresh shrimp are used, the first steps of washing, inspecting, 

 and grading are the same as those for processing frozen shrimp, described 

 earlier. Then, whether the raw material was fresh or frozen, the next 

 step is peeling and deveining. This also is done as described above for 

 the frozen peeled and deveined shrimp, except that many breaders use 

 hand labor for this process or employ a machine which leaves the terminal 

 segment of the shell (the ''fantail") still attached. 



The peeled and deveined shrimp are placed on a conveyer belt which 

 takes them through a batter mixture. This usually consists of dried egg, 

 non-fat dry milk solids, wheat and corn flours, salt, spices, and other 

 ingredients; there is a wide variation among breaders as to the constitu- 

 ents used in the batter. 



After having been dipped in the batter, or palled through it, the 

 shrimp are covered with breading material (Figure 12.5). This consists 

 of a large variety of dry materials which adhere to the wet batter and 

 produce a coating around the shrimp. Sometimes the breading is bread 

 or crackers, toasted to the form of crumbs. In other cases, the breading 



