TABLE V - 6l.--AVT^RAGE COST PER POIJIID OF 



FHODUCIHG FllOffiN UlICXvOKED ]3l^CADED GIIEm'IP, 



DETAILS FOR TIKEE PRODUCERS, 1952, 1953 AlfD 195*^ 



(CcntG per p ound) 



Item 1952 1953 195'^ 



Co:upany A 71-61 83.93 72. ^t? 



Company B 61.8I 73.27 57.89 



Company C n.a. 63. 07 58.99 



n. a. - not available. 



Detailed cost data for the three companies and two other com- 

 panies for which information for part of the year is available are found 

 in table V - 62. 



Cost of breading materials in the plants studied averaged 

 about ten percent of total production costs. The breading expense will 

 depend on the amount of so-called 'pick-up', the quantity of breading 

 mixture added to the raw shrimp meat. The 'pick-up* ranges from 

 35 to 60 percent. 



Coarseness of breading material, consistency of batter-mix, and 

 the number of dips into each are factors controlling the amount of 'pick- 

 up'. Tlie style of the end-product, i.e. tails on or of f, butterfly style or 

 round, affects the amount of breading mixture that can be added. 



Tlie consensus of processors interviewed by First Research Cor- 

 poration viis that soraev/here between 35 and ^0 percent of 'pick-up' would 

 yield the most satisfactory product. Most of the processors reportedly 

 would welcome the establishaient of breading standards. 



Canned Sliriiup 



Canned shrimp plants are the most highly mechanized segment of 

 the shrimp industry. Nevertheless, First Research Corporation reports, 

 hand operations still account for all bvit a relatively small fraction of 

 the total tiiue required to pack canned shrimp. 



Mechanization has been applied to shrimp canning comparatively 

 recently. It was not until the end of the year 1953, for instance, that 

 all sliriiup canning plants in Louisiana, as v;ell as a number of the estab- 

 lisliiiients in Miosissipiji and Alabama, were using automatic shrimp-peeling 

 machines. Several plants at that tiiiie were using hand-feed develning 

 machines, though an appreciable quantity of shrimp is still deveined 



28i| 



