A crabber on an early morning run 

 offHarkers Island. 



Run those figures through a calcula- 

 tor, and you'll find the meat itself costs 

 $2 to $3 a pound. Add meat and labor 

 costs together, and the sum approaches 

 $6. 



Last summer, wholesale prices 

 dropped to less than $6 per pound, 

 Stephenson says. That means proces- 

 sors in many cases were making pennies 

 a pound, and that kind of measly profit 

 isn't enough to keep a crab processor 

 cooking. 



"Several major producers in 

 Virginia went out of business last 

 summer," Stephenson says. "I person- 

 ally think if things don't change, 

 operators in this state will be forced out 

 too. And I don't like to see anybody go 

 under." 



Overproduction isn't the only 

 problem facing the industry. U.S. 

 processors are competing against 

 imported and imitation crab meat 

 products, and they are battling regula- 

 tory restrictions and labor shortages. 



So what's needed to revive the crab 

 processing industry? 



A healthy dose of change. 



"We need new ways to handle the 

 crab, new processing techniques, new 

 packaging and new health regulations 

 that will allow the industry to grow," 

 Stephenson says. 



David Green, Sea Grant's seafood 

 industry specialist, agrees. Green has 

 been working with crab processors to 

 introduce new technology. 



With the help of a grant from the 

 National Coastal Resources Research 

 and Development Institute, Green is 

 introducing the industry to cryogenic 

 freezing. 



This innovative process uses liquid 

 carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen to 



Because the highly 

 perishable blue crab is 

 marketed as fully cooked 



and ready-to-eat. 

 Shellfish Sanitation has 

 stringent regulations and 

 guidelines for processing 

 the crustaceans. 



flash freeze a product, in this case 

 crabs, in a matter of seconds. Conven- 

 tional freezing does not work well for 

 blue crab meat because it leaves the 

 meat dry and stringy. 



Working with CryoTech Industries 

 Inc. in Florida and Carolina's Pride 

 Seafood Inc. in Plymouth, Green is 

 flash freezing steam-cooked, in-shell 

 crab cores. He's examining the 

 freezing and handling process to 



ensure quality, yields and safety. 



Using this alternative processing 

 strategy, processors can store the flash- 

 frozen crustaceans at low temperatures 

 (-20 C), then thaw and handpick them 

 later. By using this storage technique, 

 processors could hold their crabs until 

 wholesale prices rise, thereby eliminat- 

 ing some of the seasonal glut and 

 improving their profit margin. 



As an added bonus, crab pickers 

 would be assured a longer working 

 season, perhaps even full-time employ- 

 ment. 



Green is also looking at cryogeni- 

 cally freezing handpicked meat. The 

 meat would be frozen in 6-ounce, 12- 

 ounce and 1 6-ounce packages for 

 consumer use. 



Green says there is a market for 

 frozen handpicked meat, and consumers 

 are asking for more usable quantities 

 than the traditional 1 -pound tubs. 



"Meat that is cryogenically frozen 

 during peak supply and held three 

 months is often superior to what's on the 

 fresh market in late fall because of the 

 seasonality of crab supplies," Green 

 says. "Crabs bought in the fall and 

 winter are usually caught in the dredge 

 fishery, so the meat is sandy, gritty, 

 watery and less desirable." 



Stephenson says this freezing 



14 MAY/JUNE 1992 



