FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1939 PAL eS 
2. Cooling platforms and bins should be cleaned and sterilized before use 
and after each batch of cooked crabs is exhausted. 
3. Shovels used for handling cooked crabs and ice should be used for these 
purposes only. They should be cleaned and sterilized before use and 
should not be allowed to touch the floor. When not in use they should 
be kept either on the cooling platform or in the ice bin. Separate 
shovels should be used for each purpose. It is highly recommended 
that the blades of the shovels be submerged in a chlorine solution when 
not in use. 
4. Containers used for carrying cooked crabs to the pickers should be cleaned 
and sterilized at least three times a day. 
Tables used for all purposes snould be cleaned and sterilized before use. 
Picking tables should be washed and sterilized after the supply of cooked 
erabs of each picker is exhausted. Packing tables should be washed 
and sterilized at least three times a day. 
6. Picking utensils, such as knives and pans, should be cleaned and sterilized 
after each lot of crabs in front of the picker is exhausted. Cans in which 
the meat is picked should be rinsed in chlorine solution before use. 
7. Hand contacts with stools should be avoided. Stools should be cleaned 
and sterilized at the end of operations each day and before use the next 
day. 
8. Facilities for washing the hands should be segregated from facilities pro- 
vided for washing picking utensils. Separate lots of chlorine solution 
should be provided for rinsing the hands and sterilizing picking‘ utensils. 
These solutions should be made up fresh at least three times'a day. 
9. Ice crushers, bins, and boxes should be cleaned and sterilized: before use 
and also at the end of operations. va 
10. Floors should be kept free from waste and should be cleaned thordughly 
at least once daily. Steam or water under pressure should be used in 
cleaning. 
Or 
b. Personal cleanliness. 
1. No person afflicted with any communicable disease should be employed 
in a erab-meat plant. Persons with wounds or sores on the hands 
should not be allowed to pick crab meat. Periodic check-ups should 
be made by health authorities or physicians and those persons in good 
health should be issued approved health certificates. 
2. All persons employed in erab-meat plants should wear clean aprons and 
wearing apparel. Clean, washable caps or hair nets should be worn. 
3. Before visiting the toilet, employees should remove aprons and leave them 
in the room where they are employed. Hands should be washed thor- 
oughly with soap and water followed by a rinse in chlorine solution 
before starting work and after each absence from the picking room; 
also after each lot of crabs in front of the picker is exhausted. A person 
should be designated to see that this provisicn is strictly followed. 
ce. Preparation of the meat. 
It should be stressed that crab meat, as prepared and shipped, should at all 
times be free from pollution. 
1. Crabs should preferably be picked immediately, or as soon after cooking 
as is practicable. It is to be emphasized that cooked crabs which fall 
to the floor or otherwise come into contact with the floor should be 
either reprocessed or thrown away. If this precaution is not taken, 
the entire batch of crabs may become contaminated. 
2. Crabs should be delivered to the picking tables by a person assigned to 
that duty. When trimmed crabs are washed for the purpose of removing 
fat prior to picking, the washing should be done with water under 
pressure. This should be done at a central point in the plant. 
3. Crab meat should be picked directly into new and unused shipping cans 
in preference to picking pans. This will tend to reduce the number 
of hand contacts with the meat. The cans should rest in a clean pan 
while being filled. A person should be assigned the duty of collecting 
the cans from the pickers as they are filled. The nesting of cans one 
on top of the other at any time before delivery to the packing room 
should be avoided. Pickers should use greater care in picking the meat 
in order to minimize the amount of shell and cartilage in the meat. 
2464N6—41——3 
