If and Oceans et Oceans Fisheries Peches Canada. [Dept. of] Fisheries and

Oceans. Scotia-Fundy Region. Fisheries Development Branch

PROJECT REPORT

MPO - Library I PO - Blotque

10018532

Project Report

Fisheries Development Branch Scotia-Fundy Region Halifax, Nova Scotia

malq

March 1984

Manuscripts contributed by:

Bourque, R.J. Frost, P.

Burns, B.G. Gozzo, A.

Dewar, A.B. Ke, P.J.

Elner, R.W. Power, E.

PROJECT NO. 72 QUEEN CRAB WORKSHOP (1983) ON QUALITY ENHANCEMENT

Edited by B.G. Burns and P.J. Ke

ABSTRACT

This report is a collection of technical information and comments

presented during a crab training course in Sydney, Nova Scotia,

February, 1983. The Atlantic Queen Crab fishery has been com-

prehensively covered in terms of stock distribution, and quality

considerations during catching, handling, holding, transport and

processing operations. Department of Fisheries and Oceans

regulations concerning the harvesting, handling and processing of

crab have been discussed and interpreted. Recommended dockside

or selling point physical grading procedures, standards and

guidelines and assessment techniques have been re-evaluated

systematically by using live crabs. The guidelines for soft

shell, white and dead crab as well as for frozen crabmeat

assessment have also been tested and recommended. An extensive

literature review of available technical information has been

reviewed and discussed.

RESUME

Ce rapport presente un ensemble d'informations et de commentaires de

nature technique presentes a l'occasion d'un cours de formation sur

la crabe donne a Sydney (Nouvelle-Ecosse) en fevrier 1983. Nous y

examinons de fagon complete la peche du crabe des neiges dans

l'Atlantique, sous les aspects de la repartition des populations et

de considerations relatives a la qualite au cours des operations de

capture, de manutention, d'entreposage, de transport et de

transformation. Nous analysons et interpretons les reglements

ministere de Peches et des oceans relatifs a la capture, a la

manutention et a la transformation du crabe. Nous avons reevalue

systematiquement, au moyen de crabes vivants, les modalites et les

normes recommandees de classification des installations des quais et

des lieux de vente ainsi que les lignes directrices et les techniques

d'evaluation; nous avons aussi mis a l'essai et recommande les

directives relatives aux crabes a carapace molle, aux crabes

carapace blanche et aux crabes morts ainsi que celles relatives a

l'evaluation de la chair de crabe congelee. Nous proposons un examen

et une analyse etendus de la documentation d'information technique

disponsible.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT/RESUME

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix

I CRAB BIOLOGY AND RESOURCE STATUS IN

THE NW ATLANTIC

R.W.

A.

B.

ELNER

Crab Biology

Crab Resource in NW Atlantic

1

4

4

1) Jonah Crab 4

2) Rock Crab 4

3) Green Crab 4

4) Queen (Snow) Crab 5

5) Red Crab 5

6) Toad Crab 5

7) Northern Stone Crab 5

8) Spiny Spider Crab 5

C. Resource Status 5

1) Queen (Snow) Crab 5

2) Queen Crab Harvesting and Management 6

3) Queen Crab Research 8

17

17

17

17

18

18

18

18

18

19

111

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

II QUALITY CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING QUEEN CRAB

A.B. DEWAR 15

A. Introduction 17

B. Crustacean Spoilage 17

C. Handling and Storage Aboard the Boat

D. Unloading from the Boat

E. Transporting to Plant from Boat

F. Transporting by Truck

G. Holding in Cool Room

H. Cutting Prior to Butchering

I. Butchering

J. Washing the Sections

K. Pre-Cooking Sections - Batch Cook

L. Pre-cooking Sections - Continuous Cooker

M. Cooling and Washing of Sections (Batch Cook) ---- 19

N. Cooling and Washing of Sections (Continuous

Cooker) 19

0. Meat Extraction 19

P. Final Meat Inspection 20

Q. Washing the Meat 20

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

R. Brining of Meat 20

S. Draining of the Meat 20

T. Other Information 20

APPENDIX 1 - Minced Rock Crab Meat: Production

and Shell Particle Content

G.G. SIMS and W.E. ANDERSON

APPENDIX 2 - A Comparison of Meat Yields and

Mechanical Deshelling Characteristics of Molted

and Unmolted Specimens of Atlantic Snow Crab

(Chionecetes opilio)

G.G. SIMS, W.E. ANDERSON and C.E. COSHAM

III REGULATION INTERPRETATION SECTION 23 OF THE

FISHERIES INSPECTION REGULATIONS

A. GOZZO

A. Section 23A - Processing of Dead Shellfish

22

25

29

- Interpretation 31

V

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

B. Schedule III, Sections 1, 7, 8, 15 and 16

Requirements for Vessels used for Fishing

or Transporting Fish for Processing

C. Schedule V, Sections 1-8 - Requirements for

Vehicles and Equipment for Unloading,

Handling, Holding and Transport of Fish

IV DOCKSIDE OR SELLING POINT EVALUATION PROCEDURES

AND REFERENCES FOR QUEEN CRAB

P.J. KE

A. Point-of-Sale Quality Grading - Queen Crab

(Draft) 35

B. Mortality Estimation for Queen Crab 35

C. Chiefs, Inspection Division Memo - May 1976

- White or Soft-Shell Crab 35

D. DFO Memo - 1976 - Soft Shell Crab 35

E. Disapproved Grading Sheet for Round (Raw) Crab 35

F. Recommended Chemical Guideline Values for

Crabmeat Assessment 36

31

32

33

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

G. Time/Temperature Effect on Post-Mortem Quality

of Queen Crab 36

APPENDIX 1 - Development of fish Grading Standards

at Selling Point by using Scientific Quality

Assessment Procedures

P.J. KE

APPENDIX 2 - Organoleptic Analysis Sheet f6r

Fresh Queen Crabmeat 60

APPENDIX 3 - Data Sheet for Crab Training Course,

February 1983 62

V WHITE/SOFTSHELL CRAB, ASSESSING TECHNIQUES

E. POWER and P. FROST 63

VI ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB FISHERY: QUALITY CONERNS

- SPECIAL PRESENTATION

R.J. BOURQUE

45

67

A. Crab - A Luxury Product? 69

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

B. Crab - A Sensitive Specie? 69

C. Crab - Studies 69

D. An Action Plan 69

E. D.F.O. Policy on Crab Processing 75

F. Conclusions 75

G. References 75

APPENDIX 1 - D.F.O. Memo January 1983 76

VII INFORMATION TRANSFER: QUEEN CRAB HANDLING AND

THE RELATED OPERATIONS

P.J. KE

A. Code of Practice for Processing Queen Crab

C.M. Blackwood, S. Varga and A.B. Dewar

B. Quality Improvement Investigations for

Atlantic Queen Crab (Chionectes Opilio)

P.J. Ke, B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar

C. Handling Snow Crab in Newfoundland

S.A. Hann

79

81

96

111

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd)

Page

VIII GUIDELINES FOR FROZEN CRAB SECTION EVALUATION

E. POWER and P. FROST 123

IX MISCELLANEOUS 127

A. List of Participants

B. Course Schedule

C. Follow-Up Comments

D. Intrim Report on Live Queen Crab Holding

B.G. Burns and P.J. Ke

129

131

132

137

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. D. Casavechia, and F.

Rahey, Jr. for helping with live crab holding tests in the

Halifax Laboratory Aquarium and for transporting the crab to

Sydney; to Mr. N. McMillan and J. Buchanan for their support

services in carrying out various demonstrations and experiments

during the training; and to Miss M. Gailey and Miss A. Joudrey

for their help in preparation of this report.

1

I CRAB BIOLOGY AND RESOURCE STATUS

IN THE NW ATLANTIC

by

Robert W. Elner

Invertebrates and Marine Plants Division

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Fisheries Research Branch

Biological Station

St. Andrews, N.B.

EOG 280

-3

ABSTRACT

The general life history characteristics of crabs are

described with particular reference to growth and reproduction.

Capsule overviews are presented on the distribution and taxonomy

of eight large crab species common to the N.W. Atlantic: 1)

jonah crab (Cancer borealis); 2) rock crab (Cancer irroratus); 3)

green crab (Carcinus maenas); 4) snow crab ((Chionoecetes

opilio); 5) red crab (Geryon quinquedens); 6) toad crab (Hyas

sp.); 7) northern stone crab (Lithodes maia); 8) spiny spider

crab (Neolithodes grimaldi). Currently, the snow crab is the

only fully exploited crab species along the Atlantic Coast of

Canada although jonah crab and rock crab are subject to

low-level, sporadic harvesting. Red crab, toad crab, northern

stone crab and spiny spider crab remain unexploited. The green

crab is a proven pest of commercial shellfisheries rather than a

potentially harvestable species. The biology of snow crab is

reviewed along with details of harvesting, management and current

research.

4

A. Crab Biology

Crabs are decapod crustaceans ("ten-legged and having a crust or shell"); a wide grouping that includes shrimps and lobsters. Many species of crabs are abundant, grow large and have a high and nutritious meat yield from their body and legs. Such properties have made them a favourite fobd for man and target of heavy exploitation.

Being invertebrates ("without backbones"), crabs rely.on a hard external shell for skeletal support and protection. Despite the shell being jointed and somewhat flexible all crabs must cast off their old shell (a process known as moulting or ecdysis) in order to grow. Once the old shell has been shed the wrinkled, soft crab takes up water and swells to its larger size within a few hours. The new shell gradually hardens and more muscles and tissue grows inside although it may take several months for the crab to regain its former shell hardness and condition. Crabs moult less frequently and their percentage growth increment per moult becomes less as they grow older. Typically, a four-year-old male snow crab of 70 mm carapace width may moult once in a year and increase 18.4% in carapace width to 82.9 mm. Such a carapace width increase would result in a 75% gain in weight from 0.12 kg to 0.21 kg.

Since all the hard parts of the crab, internal as well as external are lost at moulting, no tell-tale indicators (such as scale or otolith rings in fish) remain to directly age the animal. Hence, the age of a crab of a given size can only be backcalculated from estimates of frequency of moulting and growth per moult. Accurate information on age is basic, to much fisheries biology and the difficultly in obtaining this information for crustaceans remains a fundamental problem.

For most commercial crab species in the NW Atlantic mating takes place between a newly moulted, soft-shelled mature female and a larger hard-shelled mature male. The male carries the female around before her moult and may continue to protect her for several days after copulation. The male's behaviour, as well as being of considerable survival value to the vulnerable female, serves to guard his genetic investment against the death of the female and displacement by other males. Subsequently the female extrudes many thousands of fertilized eggs onto the swimmerets under her abdomen.

Typically larger females of a crab species carry more eggs than smaller females; a large female snow crab may carry 150,000 eggs. The eggs usually hatch during the warmer months of the year and free-swimming larvae are released. The larvae may spend from one to several months in the plankton and moult through a number of stages before settling down on the sea bed and moulting to the first crab stage. Ocean

currents may transport larvae considerable distances from their hatching place. The massive mortalitites that occur during the larval stages tend to be compensated for by the vast numbers of larvae produced.

Despite popular opinion, crabs are not simply "scavengers". In general, most large crabs in the NW Atlantic are predominantly carnivores with well defined food preferences for prey such as mussels, snails, worms and brittle-stars. The strong claws, as well as being used for crushing prey, are important in competitive disputes between males for territory and females.

B. Crab Resources of the NW Atlantic

The following describes and overviews the distribution of the large crabs likely to be encountered in the NW Atlantic.

1) JONAH CRAB (Cancer borealis)

Distribution - Nova Scotia to South Carolina; from low water to over 730 m. Dominant crab species at intermediate depths away from shore off southwestern Nova Scotia; present in the Bay of Fundy. Not recorded from Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Description (Fig. 1) - Similar to rock crab, but carapace outline more rounded, legs relatively shorter but claws larger than rock crab; nine, rectangular, rough-edged marginal teeth on each side of the front edge of the carapace; surface of claws and carapace rough; background colour variable but generally yellow-brown above and yellowish below. Up to approximately 180 mm carapace width and 0.4 kg in weight.

2) ROCK CRAB (Cancer irroratus)

Distribution - Labrador to South Carolina; from low water to 550 m. Most abundant in shallow water, especially in bays and in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, although common along the coastline of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and in the Bay of Fundy.

Description (Fig. 2) - Nine, shallow, smooth-edged marginal teeth along each side of the front edge of the carapace; marginal teeth pointed at widest part of carapace; surface of claws and carapace relatively smooth (compared to Jonah crab); background colour variable above, generally yellow-brown, but can be violet especially on rocky bottom; pale yellow under-neath; up to approximately 140 mm carapace width and 425 kg in weight.

3) GREEN CRAB (Carcinus maenas)

Distribution - Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia to Bay of Fundy to New Jersey. Commonest intertidal crab on rocky shores, occurs to about 10 m.

5

Description (Fig. 3) - Carapace dark green to brown; five prominent marginal teeth along each side of carapace. Claws usually unequal; posterior pair of legs compressed with marginal hairs. Males reach a maximum carapace width of about 85 mm and weight of 0.2 kg.

4) QUEEN (SNOW) CRAB (Chionoecetes opilio)

Distribution - West Greenland to Maine and from Alaska to Siberia; from 45 to over 640 m. Abundant on soft bottom around Cape Breton, Newfoundland and in the western Gulf St. Lawrence, especially from 70 to 275 m.

Description (Fig. 4) - Somewhat flattened walking legs that are 2-3 times as long as carapace; almost circular carapace; pale brownish above, yellowish below; males reach a maximum carapace width of 150 mm, a leg spread of approximately 0.9 m and a weight of 2.0 kg.

5) RED CRAB (Geryon quinquedens)

Distribution - Nova Scotia to Cuba; commonly from 90 to 1300 m. Very abundant in patches along edge of Continental Shelf from western Scotian Shelf to Georges Bank.

Description (Fig. 5) - Carapace squarish; usually reddish or deep orange; five marginal teeth along each side of the carapace; walking legs long and slender; males reach a maximum width of approximately 180 mm and a weight of nearly 1.4 kg.

6) TOAD CRAB (Hyas sp.)

Distribution - Very common in places; widespread on both sides of the North Atlantic; from low water to about 1650 m; in Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy, around Newfoundland and Nova Scotia; mostly at intermediate depths between rock and snow crab zones.

Description (Fig. 6) - Uneven carapace surface; 4 pairs of round, tubular walking legs. Carapace approximately 1 1/3 times longer than wide; up to a maximum carapace width of about 100 mm and a spread of 450 mm; maximum weight approximately 0.7 kg.

7) NORTHERN STONE CRAB (Lithodes maia)

Distribution - Newfoundland to New Jersey and northwestern Europe; from 65 to 800 m. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence it appears to live in deeper, warmer water than the snow crab. Occurs in Bay of Fundy and on the Scotian Shelf. Very abundant in patches at intermediate depths.

Description (Fig. 7) - Resembles snow crab in size and general shape but readily identified by the numerous prominent spines on its carapace and legs; carapace slightly longer than wide; long spiny rostrum; orange/red in colour; only 3 pairs of walking legs apparent. Up to approxi-

mately 100 mm carapace width with a leg spread of 600 mm and a weight of 1.4 kg.

8) SPINY SPIDER CRAB (Neolithodes grimaldi)

Distribution - Both sides of the North Atlantic; 100 to 2000 m. Common in patches at intermediate depths on the Scotian Shelf. Not recorded from Gulf of St. Lawrence or Bay of Fundy.

Description (Fig. 8) - Similar to northern stone crab but extremely prominent spines on carapace and appendages. Reaches a maximum carapace width of approximately 100 mm, a leg spread of 760 mm and a weight of 1.4 kg.

C. Resource Status

Currently the snow crab is the only fully exploited crab species along the Atlantic coast of Canada and represents a major resource in terms of both landings and value. A pilot directed fishery for Jonah crab on the Scotian Shelf started in 1983; however, the continuance of the fishery will depend largely on the world market demand for crab remaining strong. Both Jonah crab and rock crab are subjected to low level, sporadic exploitation as a bycatch to the lobster fishery. Red crab were commercially fished along the Scotian Shelf edge during the early 1970's, but are currently unexploited. Toad crabs, northern stone crabs and spiny spider crabs are not commercially harvested, but are caught during exploratory and commercial fishing for other species. The green crab is unique in this listing in that it is a proven pest of commercial shellfisheries rather than a potentially harvestable species.

The following focus on queen crab overviews the resource, harvesting, management and research.

(1) QUEEN (SNOW) CRAB

The exploitation of snow crab in Atlantic Canada started in 1960 with landings in the Gaspe area of Quebec. Up until 1966 the landings were the result of incidental by-catches by groundfish draggers and totalled only a few thousand kilograms annually. Since the inception of a directed trap fishery in 1966, after exploratory vessels located abundant stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, annual landings have increased rapidly (Table 1). In 1978, 21,936 metric tons, representing 20% of the world catch of Chionoecetes sp., was landed. In 1979 and 1981, landings were worth over $20 million to the fishermen and the species ranked sixth in value on the Atlantic coast behind cod, lobster, scallops, herring and flatfishes. Queen crab landings in 1982 of over 47,000 metric tons were the highest recorded.

Principal commercial queen crab grounds in the Atlantic lie between 50-450 m and are located

6

in the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf, around Cape Breton Island and off the east coast of Newfoundland (Fig. 9). Adult Queen crabs are most commonly found on mud or sand-mud bottoms where the water temperature is between -0.5 to +5'C throughout the year. Small juvenile crabs may be found on gravelly bottoms at shallower depths than adult crabs, although they can also occur with adults. Field observations indicate that adult females may be highly aggregated, whereas adult males are distributed more randomly.

Tagging experiments off Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island have not revealed either extensive or clear patterns of movement by adult male queen crabs. In tagging experiments in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the majority of recaptures have occurred within 25 km of the release point. However, although exchanges of adult crabs between the major fishing areas are unlikely, the fact that larvae are planktonic for approximately 12 wk and probably subject to dispersion by ocean currents makes long-distance relationships between crab stocks a possibility.

A distinctive feature of the Atlantic queen crab fishery is that it is based exclusively on mature male crabs. The vast majority of females are smaller than the minimum legal size of 95 mm carapace width and are effectively barred from commercial exploitation. Female queen crabs mate soon after their molt to maturity and can produce at least two successive egg clutches from the sperm received. There are no published accounts of mature female queen crabs molting or mating again at any other occasion during their life. Eggs are extruded soon after mating and are carried for approximately 12 mo before • hatching in May. New eggs fertilized from stored sperm are extruded within 14 d of larval hatching. Males continue to molt after reaching maturity at 51-80 mm carapace width and are able to mate in the intervening 1-4 yr before attaining the legal minimum size. The fact that practically all mature females caught are °berried" (carrying eggs) indicates that egg production is being maintained at a high level despite heavy fishing pressure on the large males.

Present knowledge of queen crab growth and, hence, recruitment into the fishery is deficient. Tagging studies suggest "skip molting" is prevalent and that many males attain a terminal size well below the postulated maximum carapace width of 160 mm. A review of the Atlantic queen crab fishery reveals that recruitment and commercial stock size appear to have actually increased under high exploitation in some areas, remained stable in others, while yet others have collapsed. There is presently no method to accurately predict commercial stock size from year-to-year.

A major problem in the Atlantic queen crab fishery, in general, is the landing of "white,"

newly-moulted, soft-shelled crab. The abundance of white crab is determined by the number of adult male crabs moulting during or immediately prior to the fishing season. The new shell produced is initially whitish and fragile and the space inside the shell is bloated with water. White crabs are unacceptable because they quickly die, are difficult to process, return a low meat yield and produce an inferior product. The problem is intensified by high exploitation rates and, hence, a high dependence by fishermen on freshly recruited crabs. In order to combat the problem, exploitation rates are held at 50-60%, where possible, and fishing grounds are closed when soft, newly moulted crabs are prevalent. In one area of Cape Breton, the start of the fishing season has been shifted from July to September to avoid the moulting period; however, such an approach has proved impractical for most other areas where the moulting period differs from year-to-year and has been difficult to forecast.

(2) QUEEN CRAB .HARVESTING AND MANAGEMENT

Harvesting of the Atlantic queen crab is through a directed single-species fishery prosecuted by approximately 388 licensed vessels with traps as their sole gear type. Landing queen crab by-catch taken by all other gear types is prohibited.

On commercial grounds close to the coast, the fishery is carried out by boats under 13.7 m in length. Such boats fish the inshore areas of the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Chaleur Bay and around Cape Breton Island where 1-d trips are feasible. These boats engage in other fisheries, particularly the lobster fishery, depending on season and earnings. The majority of landings are made by vessels ranging in size from 13.7-21.3 m in length, with the capability of making up to 3-d trips on offshore grounds.

Traps most frequently used in the Gulf and Cape Breton Island fisheries are rectangular steel frames, 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.6 m, covered in polypropylene netting, with two entrances on opposite sides. Such traps are generally set singlely and baited with frozen herring or mackerel. In Newfoundland, as well as small sectors of eastern Cape Breton Island and the Gulf, conical traps are used. Most are 1.2 m across the base and 0.65 m high, covered with polypropylene netting and have a plastic entrance at the top. In Newfoundland, the traps are set in strings of 35-75 and are baited with frozen squid or mackerel. Trap soak time is usually 2-d in the Newfoundland fishery and 2-3 d in the main Gulf fishery. Inshore boats around Cape Breton Island and in the Gulf generally haul all traps daily.

The queen crab season in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is approximately 6 mo, extending from the ice breakup in April to the onset of adverse weather in November. Off Cape Breton Island,

7

regulations limit the season to approximately 2 mo. Given favourable ice conditions, crab fishing may continue almost year-round off Newfoundland, except for a legal closure in January.

After capture, crabs are stored live on ice in the hold of the fishing vessel. Off-loaded crabs are transported to the processing plants and are processed within a few hours of delivery.

The Atlantic queen crab resource is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of Canada and is managed through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. When the queen crab fishery started in the 1960's, there were no restrictions on effort or gear. Regulations for the Atlantic queen crab fishery were drafted by the Gulf of St. Lawrence Snow Crab Advisory Committee in 1976. Resource management involves both biological and economic parameters.

The aim of the biological measures is to ensure the renewal of the resource by protecting female and sublegal size male crabs. This is done by:

(i) Regulations that state all females caught in traps must be returned'to.the water.

(ii) Regulations, enforced in the Gulf and Cape Breton Island fisheries, that state at least one side panel of each trap must be covered with netting of at least 131 mm mesh size. In Newfoundland, mesh size must be at least 114 mm.

(iii) Regulations that prohibit possesiion of any crab of less than 95 mm carapace width.

The major purpose of the economic measures imposed on the queen crab fishery has been to control fishing effort. In addition to preVenting depletion of crab stocks and an overreliance on new recruits, the effort controls have restricted overcapitalization and have, thus, assisted all participants in attaining a reasonable income from the fishery. Current economic measures are summarized as follows:

(i) Control of the size and number of vessels participating by strickly limiting the number and type of queen crab licenses issued.

(ii) Control of the amount of fishing gear by imposing maximum trap number per vessel limits. Presently, the limit in Newfoundland is 800 traps, 150 traps for most of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 30 traps for nearshore fishermen around Cape Breton Island and in the St. Lawrence estuary.

(iii) Control of the amount of crab landed by imposition of a total allowable catch (TAC) with distribution of the TAC into boat quotas. Around the Gulf side of Cape Breton Island,

management has maintained stability in the commercial stock by permitting harvest of TAC's equivalent to the estimated annual biomass increases resulting from growth and recruitment. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland, where estimates of annual growth and recruitment have been less practical, management has attempted to confine exploitation rates to 50-60% in order to maintain high catch rates, stability in landings, and avoid a "white" crab problem.

(The queen crab fishery on the Atlantic side of Cape Breton Island is at the southern edge of known commercial queen crab concentrations, and, as assessments since 1978 have shown, is based on a low productivity system from which the accumulated virgin biomass has now been largely removed. A management strategy of promoting stability in stock size and landings is not practical in this situation. Consequently, and on the assumption that the reproductive potential of the stocks is protected by the minimum size regulation, the fishery has been conducted on a largely opportunistic basis since 1982. Catch controls have been dropped and the existing fishermen have been allowed an 8-wk season to take advantage of whatever production occurs from time to time.)

(iv) Control of the number of vessels in a given area by establishing fishing zones. Such zones are enforced .around Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland to help better distribute the resource among the local fisherman.

(v) Control of the period in which fishing takes place by the imposition of seasons. As discussed previously, various natural and management-imposed controls on fishing period exist. In Cape Breton Island, the relative short season is in accord with managing this particular fishery as a supplementary fishery with a larger number of participants. Manipulation of seasons also have been used to successfully avoid "white" crab quality problems.

To aid stock assessments, all licensed fishermen in Atlantic Canada are required, as a condition of licensing to keep detailed logbooks. Annual assessments are carried out by biologists on the basis of logbook, tagging, research cruise, and commercial sampling data. Assessments are subject to peer review and scrutiny through two levels of the Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Advisory Committee (CAFSAC). Management considers CAFSAC-generated advice in context with socio-economic factors before making recommendations for possible enactment at senior management level. Regional queen crab advisory committees, made up of representatives for fishermen, processors, and the provincial and federal governments, serve as a link between industry and government and may debate or propose management recommendations. There are advisory committees for both the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland fisheries. The Gulf committee has a sub-committee responsible for Cape Breton Island.

(3) QUEEN (SNOW) CRAB RESEARCH

Since the early 1960's, fisheries biologists from the Federal and Provincial governments, as well as from universities, have been carrying out research into queen crab. The work has been conducted for a variety of purposes, to estimate: stock abundance and size composition, molt frequency, growth rate, reproductive patterns, long-term movement, and exploitation rates. However, all the work has a common aim in providing an accurate picture of the queen crab resource so that it can be properly managed and return maximum benefits to the fishermen.

Traps, beam trawls, and towed underwater camera sledges are used from government research vessels and commercial vessels under charter to assess crab densities. Tagging techniques have been refined to produce reliable anchor-tags that will be retained when a crab moults. Such molt-retainable tags are expected to supply valuable information on stock biomass, exploitation and growth, as well as long-term movements. The ecology and population dynamics of juvenile queen crab are being subject to special investigation through beam trawl surveys and stomach analyses of groundfish which feed on crab. Continued research on the larvae and juvenile stages remains a priority if the factors influencing growth and recruitment are to be understood. If commercial stock size and production could be predicted from larval and juvenile abundances, quotas could be set to optimize the fishery.

Commercial queen crab catches are sampled regularly at landings points throughout Atlantic Canada and sales slips are analysed. Sampling is also carried out at sea onboard licensed crab vessels and commercial vessels, such as Danish seiners, that have a crab bycatch. Most importantly, data are analysed from fishermen's logbooks. The logbooks provide critical details such as daily catch weight, number and type of traps hauled, trap location, and soak time. When considered with the commercial catch sampling data, the logbooks provide a vital means of monitoring stock size, exploitation rate, and stock dynamics. To this end, the continued cooperation of fishermen in maintaining accurate logbooks is essential.

8

TABLE Al: Queen crab landings and landed values for the Atlantic coast of Canada, 1966-83

Year

Gulf of St. Lawrence (P.E.I., N.B., Quebec)

(kg)

Cape Breton Island (N.S.) (kg)

Newfoundland (kg)

Atlantic Canada total

(kg)

Landed values ($000)

Average price to fishermen

(cP/kg)

1966 30,098 - - 30,098 5 17 1967 255,508 240,934 - 496,442 84 17 1968 4,223,190 712,882 93,000 5,029,072 1,005 20 1969 7,805,782 98,120 319,000 8,222,902 1,664 20 1970 6,552,539 90,488 891,000 7,534,027 1,582 21 1971 5,405,510 - 1,380,000 6,785,510 1,221 18 1972 5,182,047 51,456 1,484,000 6,717,503 1,948 29 1973 6,804,416 121,881 2,622,370 9,548,667 3,724 39 1974 6,725,221 216,907 3,103,434 10,045,562 3,187 38 1975 4,650,429 378,883 1,820,099 6,849,411 2,397 35 1976 7,603,795 489,490 2,406,343 10,045,562 3,817 44 1977 9,411,948 936,297 3,750,806 14,099,051 7,331 52 1978 11,319,594 3,189,061 7,427,591 21,936,246 12,503 57 1979 16,260,927 3,224,849 11,195,000 30,680,776 20,556 67 1980 16,727,872 2,499,533 9,311,230 28,538,635 16,838 59 1981 21,967,499 1,615,406 13,869,800 37,452,705 21,723 58 1982 31,585,000 2,190,000 13,228,900 47,003,900 43,243 92 1983 24,342,000 2,034,767 10,877,860 40,254,627 57,651 143

- 10 -

Fig. 1. Jonah Crab (Cancer borealis).

Fig. 2. Rock Crab (Cancer irroratus).

Fig. 3. Green Crab (Carcinus maenas).

Fig. 4. Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio).

-

Fig. 5. Red Crab (Geryon quinquedens).

Fig. 6. Toad Crab (Ryas sp.).

- 13 -

Fig. 7. Northern Stone Crab (Lithodes maia).

Fig. 8. Spiny Spider Crab (Neolithodes grimaldi).

I I T -- 65° 60° 55•

Snow Crab (Chlonoecetes opillo) Fishing Areas

Quebec

Labrador

Gulf of

StLarrenee

Judson, Arm

LIMA Bay

Newfoundland

— 50°

Gaspe Grande-Ririe

50°—

Vaneyfield

Boom

Bay...!!,e erde

PAM de Grave Boreahl

Low Exploitation

New Brunswick

USA High Exploitation Montle Ocean

— 45° Nov 65° 60° 55°

I I I

45°—

-14-

Fig. 9. Distribution of commercial snow crab grounds in Atlantic Canada.

- 15 -

II QUALITY CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING

QUEEN CRABS

by

A.B. Dewar

Inspection Division

Fisheries Operations Branch

D.F.O. - Scotia-Fundy Region

P.O. Box 550

Halifax, N.S.

B3J 2S7

17

A. Introduction

To obtain a top quality product we must start with top quality raw material and couple this with good manufacturing practice (GMP) and the latest technical expertise. The purpose of this discussion is to show how this may be obtained in the case of Queen Crab (Snow) and to indicate what happens to the quality of the finished product if this is not done.

Looking back over the events of the last year, it is clear that there are many areas that could be very much improved. This applies to both handling the crab to keep them alive and in good condition, and to workmanship factors. In many instances we have not got serious about keeping the animals alive and of only using live healthy crab for raw material. We have not really, in many instances, expended the time, money and effort that is required to keep them alive and in good condition prior to processing. If we are honest with ourselves and take a long serious look at the Industry, we will see that this is so. Having said that, what can we do, in a practical way that will keep the crabs in prime condition?

B. Crustacean Spoilage

1. Crustacea must be alive for processing as food;

2. the keeping time after death is extremely short;

3. the visceral enzymes of crustacea (crabs and lobsters) are very potent;

4. the rate of enzyme activity is temperature dependant;

5. digestive ferments need only temperature to speed up their operation, which is autolysis or the attacking and breaking down the animal, itself, after it is dead;

6. after the animal is dead,. the checks and balances nature provided are no longer functioning, so the enzyme systems attacks the animal and breaks it down - viscera becomes watery, flesh becomes soft, etc.

7. crabs must be handled and stored in a way that prolongs survival and keeps them in good condition.

C. Handling and Storage Aboard the Boat

1. Crabs must be handled in a manner that avoids undue stress;

2. avoid rough handling, jarring, dropping, crushing, piercing, mutilating;

3. after capture protect the animals new environment;

4. protect from high temperature, wind, rain;

5. keep crabs cool and moist; 6. if iced, do it quickly after capture; 7. use clean ice and in amounts

sufficient to cool them to about 32.F, 0.0 and keep them there;

8. protect the animal from fresh water, as osmosis will quickly kill them;

9. keep animals right side up as they will survive longer and also be less prone to osmosis;

10, keep the length of the trip to a minimum;

11. if iced in bulk, keep height of the pile to a minimum to avoid crushing (60 cm or less);

12. use pen boards (distance 60 cm or less);

13. do not pile crabs on deck; 14. handle crabs gently, use slides, etc; 15. stress caused by injury will hasten

the crabs death; 16. do not stand or walk on the crab; 17. if boxed, do not overfill, leave room

for proper amount of ice to maintain cool temperature;

18. ensure that boxes nest properly, so crab will not be crushed;

19. ensure that the legs do not protrude from the boxes;

20. crushing or injury to the legs hasten death;

21. regulate the catch to the ability of the plant to process the crab quickly.

D. Unloading From Boat

1. Avoid physical damage of any kind; 2. handle the crabs gently; 3. do not pull off legs by handling them

by the legs; 4. do not jar or crush; 5. do not overfill boxes or unloading

crate; 6. keep crab right side up; 7. keep cool and moist; 8. keep protected from weather.

E. Transporting to Plant From Boat

1. Use crates or boxes; 2. do not overfill the crates or boxes; 3. ensure appendages do not protrude as

crushing will result; 4. ensure boxes or crates nest properly

to avoid crushing; 5. keep the crabs cool and moist, protect

from weather; 6. do not drop or jar crates or boxes; 7. keep crabs right side up; 8. transport to cool room without delay.

F. Transporting By Truck

1. Use boxes or crates; 2. do not overfill the boxes or crates; 3. avoid physical damage;

18

F. Transporting By Truck (Cont'd)

4. ensure enough room in boxes or crates for proper icing to maintain cool temperature (approaching 32°F, 0°C);

5. do not overfill to avoid crushing; 6. keep crabs right side up; 7. avoid crushing or loss of appendages; 8. ensure proper drainage from boxes or

crates; 9. remember fresh water kills by

osmosis.

G. Holding In Cool Room

1. Re-ice boxes if necessary depending on length of time until butchering;

2. keep cool room cool (32°F, 0°C very desireable);

3. nest crates or boxes properly to avoid crushing;

4. if stored in bulk, do not pile higher than 60 cm;

5. ensure proper drainage; 6. a cool room should only be temporary

storage - a matter of hours; 7. butcher as quickly as possible.

H. Culling Prior to Butchering

1. Cull out all dead or discoloured animals;

2. Cull out all soft shell animals for the following reasons:

a) they die very quickly; b) they are very difficult to shuck

- meat yield may be less than 50% of normal;

c) the meat tends to turn blue, ' especially on canning;

d) the texture is soft, mushy and watery;

e) a lot of blood and precipatated protein will be present on cooking. Considerable fluid is present in the crab sections - on cooking this fluid becomes a curd or precipatate. It is very difficult, if not impossible to wash this material from the meat;

f) since the blood has a pH of 7.8 smut formation may also result in the canned product.

3. cull out all mutilated animals unless injury has just occurred;

4. cull out all undersized crabs, they should never have got this far. In the past there has been complaints about undersized crab. From a conservation standpoint, they should not be in the plant. They also slow up production as they are difficult to shuck and thus yield is low;

5. culling must always be a separate operation prior to butchering;

6. rinse muddy or otherwise unclean crab before butchering.

I. Butchering

1. Remove carapace and separate animal into equal sections;

2. ensure gill, mandibles, viscera and excess cartilege are properly removed. If they are not properly removed at this point, they will end up in the meat in whole or in part later on;

3. ensure butchering is carried out properly by constant monitoring;

4. remember if the product is not properly butchered, it will adversely affect the product later on. It is much cheaper to add extra personnel to butcher the crab properly and keep the lines supplied than to try and undue the damage later on. Also a better quality product will result;

5. rotary brushes of a size, type and material suitable for this operation are quite effective;

6. cleaning may also be done effectively with a sharp knife.

J. Washing the Sections

1. Use a heavy spray of clean freshwater; 2. sections should be sprayed top and

bottom - an open mesh conveyor will permit proper washing of sections or sections should be tumbled to complete washing;

3. sections must be properly washed -avoid soaking in stagnant water;

4. ensure viscera and extraneous material is removed (if present, will cause discolouration of meat);

5. ensure blood and other body fluids are removed (if present, will cause blueing and discolouration of meat later on);

6. rotary type washers do an effective job if the water supply is adequate and the spray of water is properly directed for effective washing action.

K. Pre-Cooking Sections - Batch Cook

1. Ensure adequate cooking, as partially cooked sections will discolour very quickly;

2. if not properly cooked, product is difficult to shuck;

3. optimum pre-cook time is 7 min. in boiling water;

4. the cooking time is measured from the time water begins to boil in the cooking vat after the crabs are added;

5. cooking in live steam is not recommended (difficult to shuck);

6. ensure uniform heating by raising and lowering the basket two or three times at the start of the cooking operation;

19

K. Pre-Cooking Sections - Batch Cook (Cont'd)

7. do not lift cooking basket up through scum on cooking water as this undesireable material will stick to sections and dry on causing a problem (this can be avoided by turning steam on full to boil over cooking water, thus removing scum);

8. drain and clean cooking vats as per regulations (intervals of 2 hrs or sooner depending on conditions).

L. Pre-Cooking Sections - Continuous Cooker

1. Use clean fresh water; 2. ensure adequate overflow and change

of cooking water to keep the cook water clean;

3. ensure adequate cooking as partially cooked sections will discolour very quickly;

4. optimum cooking time 7 min. in boiling water;

5. ensure there are no cold spots in the continuous cooker by adequte distribution of steam;

6. an extra supply of steam should be provided where the cold sections enter the cooker;

7. to prevent sections from floating on top of the water and not being properly cooked use a baffle arrangement that keeps the sections submerged;

8. ensure that cold water, used to wash the sections during removal from the cooker, does not run into cooker causing a cold spot.

M. Cooling and Washing of Sections (Batch Cook)

1. Cooked sections should be immersed immediately in running water to cool the meat to 50°F (clean crushed ice may be added to hasten cooling);

2. meat has to be cooled properly for ease of shucking;

3. cooling firms and shrinks meat to aid shucking (less meat is shredded, damaged or broken into small pieces);

4. after cooling, the sections must be washed either manually or in a rotary type

5. all curd (blood fluids and precipitated protein) and any remaining viscera or liver must be removed prior to shucking. If not, this material will end up in the meat;

6. monitor operation frequently for effective cooling and washing;

7. remember whatever undesireable material is on the sections will end up in the meat during the meat extraction.

N. Cooling and Washing of Sections (Continuous Cooker

1. Same considerations as for batch, except the cooling and washing is usually always combined with a spray tube washing as the product comes out of the cooker in combination with a cooling canal;

2. ensure effective washing of the sections immediately after removal from continuous cooker;

3. ensure adequate amount of fresh clean water combined with spray action for effective washing;

4. force of spray should be adequate to remove unwanted materials but not damage or wash away the meat;

5. spray must be directed on all surfaces of sections (nozzles top and bottom directed from above and below on an open mesh conveyor or the section tumbled to ensure complete washing;

6. the washing operation is very important and can not be overemphasized;

7. washing must be monitored closely to ensure the system is working properly and does in fact produce the results intended - a clean product;

8. check water supply, pressure of spray, effectiveness of spray (where and how the spray is directed and if any nozzles are plugged);

9. ensure that the washing system is turned on and working - sometimes for one reason or another the water, etc. is not turned on.

0. Meat Extraction

1. See Code of Practice for Processing Queen Crab (See Section VIII page 123);

2. the meat must be extracted in a machine that removes the tendons (sawing off the legs does not remove the tendons from the leg meat);

3. the meat should be extracted in a manner that provides large chunks of meat (some workers, crush and/or pound the section before extracting the meat to loosen the meat up. This gives a small particle size and/or a grated or mushy effect to the meat and adversely effects its appearance and desireability. Also the yield may be affected due to meat loss;

4. the workers (shuckers) should not be allowed to present meat that has excessive amounts of undesireable material in it from a shucked meat point-of-view because it makes the removal of shell and cartilage, etc. almost impossible (the inspection of the meat tends to end where it should begin).

20

P. Final Meat Inspection

1. Pieces of shell and cartilage and other undesireable material should be removed from the shucked meat with the aid of a ultra violet (UV) light (black light) in a darkened area;

2. provide proper set up, i.e. U.V. light below eye level (eye protection) and proper ventilation (ozone formed);

3. moving meat on a conveyor belt past the workers is an efficient system;

4. every effort should be made to remove undesireable material without ruining the meat. (Extraneous material should not be removed by feel alone, eg. grating or handling the meat in such a way that the material is removed by "feel°, the product ends up a °shredded mess");

5. this operation must be closely monitored by constant checking by a Quality Control and Quality Assurance group to assure effectiveness at all times. Remember, the consumer expects the white meat to be white and the pigmented meat, red - not a grated, mixed-up mass;

6. brine flotation as a method to remove shell and cartilage is not, repeat, not, recommended for the following reasons:

(a) it is a source of bacterio-logical contamination;

(b) it is costly; (c) it is not 100% efficient; (d) the meat has to be freshened up

afterwards; (e) it is very difficult to control

salt content (salt content will vary due to many factors, i.e. time temperature, texture to name a few;

(f) the high salt content denatures the meat and adversely affects the flavour.

Q • Washing the Meat

1. Wash the meat in cool clean running fresh water;

2. do not soak the meat; 3. if a spray is used ensure that it is

gentle and does not shred or separate the meat fibers;

4. do not °work", shred or break up the meat until it is a homogeneous mass;

5. the object is to effectively wash the meat while retaining the legs intact and the fine or broken meat in as large pieces or chunks as possible.

R. Brining of Meat

1. Meat to be packaged for freezing should be brined to enhance the flavour;

2. the optimum salt pick up can be obtained by dipping the leg meat one minute and the fine meat for three-quarters of a minute in 7.9% (30% salometer brine solution);

3. keep brine dip solution clean by frequently changing it;

4. a dirty brine solution can be a source of bacteriological contamination;

5. meat frozen in cans should have the pickle added directly to the can;

6. add one-sixth of an ounce of pickle containing 4-5% salt to each ounce of meat.

S. Draining of'the Meat

1. Prior to packaging, the meat should be drained adequately and uniformally to eliminate excess surface water;

2. drain the meat in shallow perforated pans sloped to drain on a rack constructed for that purpose;

3. slope the pans at an angle of 30-45' to facilitate draining;

4. do not brine meat that is intended for canning, rather add the salt after the meat is drained and packed in the can;

5. allow meat to drain freely, do not press or squeeze all the juice (moisture) and flavour out, leaving an insipid product.

T. Other Information

The time alloted on this course does not permit me to expand on the subject further. I would like, however, at this time to direct your attention to the following handouts which may be used as further reference material on the subject:

1. Scoring Guide for Fresh and Frozen Queen Crabmeat (Chionoecetes opilio) 1974

This inspection guide was drawn up by our Regional Laboratory after extensive experimental and investigational work on the subject. (See Section VIII Page 123).

It should be noted that a Proposed, Grading Standard for Canned Snow Crab Meat is now out in draft form and is being developed by our Department in close consulation with Industry. Once this is finalized it is expected that a similar one will be prepared for the fresh and frozen product.

21

T. Other Information (Cont'd)

2. Minced Rock Crab Meat: Production and Shell Particle Content

This paper outlines the method and the specifications we use for checking minced products from lobster or crab. It should be noted that since gill, sand, etc. would be included in total undesireable solids (T.U.S.) we would accept a total undesireable solids content of 1.5%. (See Appendix 1).

3. A Comparison of Meat Yields and Mechanical Deshelling Characteristics of Molted and Unmolted Specimens of Atlantic Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) by G.G. Sims, W.E. Anderson and C.E. Cosham

This paper discusses yields of unmolted and molted crab specimens mechanical deshelling characteristics of the meat and also gives the proximate composition of the crabmeat obtained. (See Appendix 2).

4. Code of Practice for Processing Queen Crab, by Dr. C.M. Blackwood, S. Varga and A.B. Dewar

This is also a paper that our Regional Laboratory prepared after extensive investigation and experimental work in canning and processing both in the Lab and in the Field. This Code of Practice if followed diligently will produce .or yield an excellent quality product. (See Section VII page 81).

APPENDIX I

MINCED ROCK CRAB MEAT: PRODUCTION AND SHELL PARTICLE CONTENT G.G. Sims and W.E. Anderson 1976. Can. Inst. Food.Sci. Technol J. Vol. 9, No. 1

SUMMARY

Mechanical deboners have been successfully applied to materials such as V-cuts from fillets which have previously been discarded. Application to the deshelling of lobster bodies have indicated that crustacea may also be successfully processed. This work describes the mechanical deshelling of rock crab (cancer irroratus), a species that cannot be efficiently processed by hand. Major problems encountered were associated with the removal and chemical determination of small shell particles. The A.O.A.C. method for shell analysis (A.O.A.C. 1975, P878) useful only for shell fragments of >60 mesh size was modified to determine essentially all shell fragments. 200 ml of 5% sodium hydroxide and ten drops of alizarin red S (5% a.g.) were added to 25-35 g of wet sample. The sodium hydroxide dissolved the protein while the indicator dyed the shell particles. The procedure was repeated once, the shell particles washed, dried, then weighed. Fairly accurate and reproducable results were obtained using this method (Table 1). Results from taste panels employed to evaluate the extent of grittiness imparted to samples by shell particles of various mesh sizes indicated the concentration of shell particles which fail to pass a 20 mesh sieve, should not exceed 0.3% and a 50 mesh sieve 1.05%. Total shell contents. should not exceed 1.25% (based on a dry weight basis).

Various minced rock crab meats were prepared on a belt-drum type mechanical deboner (Baader 694) using raw material handled in different ways. Percentage yields and grittiness assessments are presented in Table 2. The protein content of waste materials from the deshelling process were generally 30-40% lower than those of the meat samples. It was concluded that a good food quality minced rock crab meat can be produced in yields of 24-30% (of live weight) by the deshelling of cooked sections.

22

-23-

TABLE 1: Mean results from triplicate shell analyses of minced crab meat samples to which known quantities of rock crab shell particles had been added,

Shell Concentration - Percentage Wet Weight Basis Shell Size

Added Found Added Found Added Found Added Found

) 20 0.05 0.05 0.10 0.10 0.20 0.20 0.30 0.33 20-50 0.05 0.06 0.10 0.11 0.21 0.21 0.30 0.31 ( 50 0.05 0.07 0.10 0.12 0.20 0.20 0.30 0.27 Mean-all sizes 0.05 0.06 0.10 0.11 0.20 0.20 0.30 0.30

TABLE 2: Percentage yields and taste panel assessments of minced rock crab meats from various processing procedures using a Baader 694 deboner

Group Description of Material Entering Separator

Belt Pressure*

% Meat Yield From Live Crab

% Meat Yield From Sections

Grittiness** Score

Objectionable*** Ratings

A Raw sections 4 15.6 27.8 2.3 0 B Cooked sections 4 24.2 43.4 2.0 0 B Waste from B 4 3.0 5.3 4.0 3 C Cooked sections, not cooled 4 15.6 27.9 2.4 1 D Cooked whole, then

sectioned and brushed 4 21.9 38.5 2.0 0

E Cooked sections 4 27.1 46.9 1.8 0 F Cooked sections 5 29.5 51.0 2.3 0 F Waste from F 5 1.0 1.7 4.3 5

* The five-notch pressure setting of the Baader 694 deboner was numerically described by a five-point scale on which the maximum pressure was denoted by 5 and the minimum pressure was denoted by 1.

** Each score is the mean of 5 assessments. Borderline acceptability is represented by a mean grittiness score of 2.5-3.0.

*** The number of objectionable ratings is the number of panelists (of a total of 5) who judged the samples to be objectionable due to excessive grittiness. The grittiness scores were assigned on a 7-point scale; 1-nil to 7-severe.

APPENDIX 2

A COMPARISON OF MEAT YIELDS AND MECHANICAL DESHELLING CHARACTERISTICS OF MOLTED AND UNMOLTED SPECIMENS OF ATLANTIC SNOW CRAB (CHIONOECETES OPILIO) G.G. Sims, W.E. Anderson and C.E. Cosham 1980. Can Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 908, 8PP

SUMMARY

A comparison was made between meat yields from unmolted (hard-shelled) and molted (soft-shelled) specimens of Atlantic Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) using both hand and mechanical deshelling methods. The percentage yields of various components of the crab processed on a Baader 694 deboner and from hand operations are shown in Table 1.. In all cases higher yields were obtained from the unmolted crab. In addition unmolted specimens have lower moisture contents (1.5%) and correspondingly higher protein concentrations (1.7%).

The minced meats obtained from mechanical operations were assessed by a taste panel for shell particles and the proximate composition was determined for both hand and mechanical deshelling operations (Table 2). The maximum meat yield using an average of various combinations of hand and mechanical operations was 42% for unmolted crab vs 35% for molted crab confirming that there is substantially less meat obtained from molted specimens. The minced meats from both molted and unmolted animals contained sufficiently low concentrations of shell particles to be acceptable to the taste panel. Chemical analysis showed that the percentage of shell present was in most cases significantly lower than the 1.25% total shell content tolerence proposed for Rock Crab. It was suggested that the shell content of minced crustacean meats may correlate directly with the hardness or brittleness of the shell of the raw material.

25

TABLE 1: Percentage Yields of Snow Crab Meats from Various Raw Materials Processed on a Baader 694 Deboner and from Hand Operations

Group* Description of Raw Material

% Meat Yield

From Live From Cooked Sections From Deboner Input

UM-1 Whole sections 43.7 64.2 64.2 M-1 Whole sections 37.2 58.1 58.1

UM-2 Shoulders 12.1 17.7 71.6 M-2 Shoulders 10.5 16.4 75.3

UM-3 Legs plus claws 28.7 42.2 58.1 M-3 Legs plus claws 23.4 36.6 56.9

UM-4 Shucked shoulder shells 3.1 4.6 52.7

i M-4 Shucked shoulder shells 1.0 1.6 29.0

1/4c) UM-5 Shucked leg shells 5.8 8.6 18.9 CN1

1 M-5 Shucked leg shells 3.4 5.3 12.9

UM-6 Leg tips 2.5 3.6 52.6 M-6 Leg tips 2.9 4.5 52.5

UM-HS-7 Shoulders 11.0 16.1 M-HS-7 Shoulders 10.5 16.4

UM-HS-8 Legs plus claws 18.6 27.3 M-HS-8 Legs plus claws 14.8 23.1

*All "UM" Groups are unmolted and all "M" Groups are molted crabs. HS refers to hand separated meats. All other values are for mechanically separated meats.

TABLE 2: Proximate Composition and Taste Panel Assessments of Minced and Hand Separated Snow Crab Meats

Group* Grittiness

Score (Mean.)** Percentage Composition-Wet Weight Basis Dry Weight Basis Moisture Ash Protein Fat P % Shell

UM-Whole Sections 1.5 82.6 1.50 15.3 0.27 0.20 0.35

M-Whole Sections 1.0 84.9 1.66 12.8 0.29 0.16 0.27

UM-Shoulders 1.3 82.9 1.49 15.0 0.26 0.19 0.35

M-Shoulders 1.0 84.5 1.41 13.3 0.30 0.18 0.13

UM-Legs Plus Claws 1.3 83.5 1.61 14.7 0.27 0.20 0.30

M-Legs Plus Claws 1.0 85.5 1.66 12.4 0.31 0.17 0.28

UM-Shucked Shoulder Shells 1.0 85.7 1.75 11.7 0.28 0.14 0.70

M-Shucked Should Shells 1.5 86.5 1.81 11.0 0.34 0.14 0.30

UM-Shucked Leg Shells 2.3 86.7 1.64 11.2 0.30 0.14 1.65

M-Shucked Leg Shells 1.3 87.2 1.43 10.8 0.37 0.13 0.73

UM-Leg Tips 1.8 85.8 1.57 11.5 0.26 0.12 0.78

M-Leg Tips 1.5 87.7 1.76 9.8 0.32 0.13 0.24

UM HS-Shoulders 80.2 1.51 17.9 0.41 0.19

M HS-Shoulders 81.8 1.71 15.7 0.57 0.19

UM HS-Legs Plus Claws 78.4 1.39 19.9 0.44 0.21

M HS-Legs Plus Claws 79.9 1.61 18.0 0.49 0.24

*All "UM" Groups are unmolted and all "M" Groups are molted crabs; "HS" refers to hand separated meats. **A mean grittiness score of 2.5 represents borderline acceptability. Lower scores generally represent an acceptable product.

- 29 -

III REGULATIONS INTERPRETATION, SECTION 23

OF THE FISHERIES INSPECTION REGULATIONS

by

A. Gozzo

Inspection Services Branch

DFO Gulf Region

Memramcook Institute

P.O. Box 270

St. Joseph, Westmorland Co.

New Brunswick

BOA 2Y0

-31-

A. Section 23A - Processing of Shellfish that are not Alive - Interpretation

No person shall:

A. PROCESS CRAB, LOBSTERS, CLAMS, OYSTERS, MUSSELS OR WHELKS THAT ARE NOT ALIVE.

This Section has caused many problems since it was introduced, it is almost certain that if this section was applied strictly as written very small amounts of crab would be processed. It is a very complex problem to try to change the present situation. The development of a quality product has to start at sea and therefore attitudes of fishermen and their crews have to change. The trucking business and processing plants alsci have to operate with the same goals. To maintain the quality of finished crab products, only live animals are to be processed. This is very difficult to achieve. An indication of 10% of mortality (at point of inspection ie. landing site or processing plant) has been accepted to determine the action to follow.

1. When the quantity of dead crab exceeds 10%, culling must take place, making sure all dead crab go for other than human consumption.

2. When the quantity of dead crab is less than 10%, crabs which show signs of decomposition (blackening or discoloration) must be culled and disposed of.

3. For the sake of effectiveness, culling shall always be done before the crab reaches the butchering table. (Previous experiences have demonstrated that culling at the. butchering table-is not acceptable because the inspector cannot control the process of culling.)

4. Lots being inspected at plant level and having a mortality rate higher than 10% will require culling of dead animals.

5. Lots having a mortality rate of less than 10% when unloaded but subsequently having a more than 10% mortality during the plant level inspection may be processed within the 8 hrs time liMit (from time unloading started, including transport). No culling will be necessary, but if evidence of decomposition is found, the whole lot will have to be culled, Again,

5. (Cont'd)

culling must be done prior to the butchering table.

The following criterias shall be used to determine if crab is dead.

1. Absence of leg movements 2. Absence of eye movements 3. Absence of mandibule movements 4. Absence of heart movements -(Main

criteria to determine mortality - carapace of the crab has to be removed to verify heart movements).

B. Schedule III, Sections 1, 7, 8, 15 and 16 - Requirements for Vessels used for fishing or Transporting Fish for Processing

Areas where fish and ice are stored shall:

1A) Have covers to protect the fish and ice from the sun and weather. Boats landing with crab on deck will have to box the crab and protect it from the sun and weather (we do not by any means support this method and inspectors should in fact discourage this practice). Boats failing to comply to this section will be prosecuted after a first written warning.

B) Have good drainage to remove ice-melt water.

Ice-melt water kills the crab and therefore every effort should be made to avoid water in the crab.

C) Where necessary, to prevent physical damage, be divided into pens, which shall be shelved vertically at intervals of 90 cm or less.

A distance of 60 cm is recommended for crab. Boats failing to comply will be prosecuted,

7. Equipment or practices that damage or contaminate the edible portion of the fish shall not be used.

Inspectors shall point out to fishermen where equipment or practices damage the fish by explaining alternate methods.

Example: Use of Shute to take crab below deck instead of throwing it. PrOper installation of shelving, etc.

8. Fish, while on board a vessel used for fishing or transporting fish shall be

-32-

C.

A) Preserved by ice in sufficient quantities to reduce and maintain the temperature to CC or lower and such ice shall be made from an approved source.

B) Preserved by other methods approved by the Minister such as - R.S.W. Systems - Chilled salt water spray

system

15. Receiving areas and all equipment, containers and utensils used in the handling of fish on board shall be cleaned with approved water and disinfected at least once daily.

16. Following the discharge of fish from a vessel, all equipment and utensils used in the handling of fish shall be forthwith thoroughly cleaned with water from, an approved source and disinfected.

Inspectors shall enforce this section and make sure boats are properly Cleaned after unloading each load.

Schedule V, Sections 1-8 - Requirements for Vehicles and Equipment for Unloading, Handling, Holding and Transport of Fish

1. Equipment and practices that damage or contaminate the edible portion of the fish shall not be used.

Example: Walking or standing on the crab during un- ' loading Rough handling of loaded boxes Improper or overfilling of boxes

All of the above should be avoided as these practices will definitely raise the mortality rate of the crabs.

3. (1) Fish shall be transported in covered containers approved by the Minister or enclosed vehicle bodies.

(2) Surfaces of fish storage areas in vehicles and of containers used for transporting fish shall be smooth, free from cracks, crevices and made of non-corrodible material.

(1) Container or vehicle bodies used to hold or transport fish shall be filled at a level no higher than 90 cm. In crab, we recommend 60 cm.

(2) Vehicle bodies used for transporting fish in bulk shall be divided at intervals of 1 m along its length.

This practice is usually not be used in transporting crab, most of crab transportation is done in boxes and therefore no division is necessary, but if bulk shipment is done this section shall be applied.

5. (1) Fish held prior to being transported shall be iced or chilled after unloading from vessels and protected from the sun, weather and contamination.

(2) Fish shall be iced or chilled while being transported.

Ice should be used. Cool dry air system on trucks should not be used without ice.

8. Areas where fish is landed or handled and all surfaces that come into contact with fish during unloading, handling, holding and transportation shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.

This section shall be applied as stated.

- 33 -

IV DOCKSIDE OR SELLING POINT

EVALUATION PROCEDURES AND REFERENCES

FOR QUEEN CRAB

by

P.J. Ke

Fisheries Development Branch

DFO Scotia-Fundy Region

P.O. Box 550

Halifax, Nova Scotia

B3J 2S7

-35-

A. POINT-OF-SALE QUALITY GRADING QUEEN CRAB (DRAFT)

Proposed Quality Grades

Queen Crab shall be graded at the point-of-sale as:

(1) Grade °Au if the crab

a) are alive (no more than 10% of the lot are dead), and

b) undamaged (no more than one leg missing or broken), and

c) does not contain any soft-shelled, and

d) are adequately iced or chilled by some other acceptable means such as refrigerated sea water (RSW), chilled moist air (CMA) or controlled aerated seawater (CAS) to a temperature of CC or less, and

e) if iced, are properly boxed, and

f) exhibits a characteristic odour, and

g) of the 10% or less that are found to be dead, no discolouration of the viscera is detectable, and

h) are neither tainted nor unwholesome.

(2) Grade "B" if the crab

a) are alive (no more than 25% of the lot are dead), and

b) are slightly damaged (less than 10% of the lot with broken shells; may have more than one leg missing or broken), and

c) may be soft-shelled providing.it is reasonably full of meat, and

d) if stored in bulk, must be shelved at intervals no greater than 50 cm in depth, and

e) exhibits a characteristic or weak characteristic odour, and

f) of the 25% or less that are found to be dead, no more than 10% of the area of the viscera may be discoloured, and

g) are neither tainted or unwholesome.

(3) °Reject° Grade if the crab

a) are dead (more than 25% of the lot are dead), and

b) more than 10% of the area of the viscera is discoloured or the body meat is affected

c) exhibits a neutral or objectionable odour

d) are tainted or decomposed.

B. MORTALITY ESTIMATION FOR SNOW CRAB

Sampling and Mortality Examination

Boat loads were sampled randomly. From each load a sample consisting of about 200 crabs was randomly examined. The observations were categorized as follows:

1. Alive Crab:

(a) Lively strong crab: crab with apparent movement.

(b) Weak live crab: detectable movement after physical stimulation.

2. Dead Crab:

(c) Dead crab: absence of any movement and muscle tone after physical stimulation on the eyes and/or the mouth.

Samplings and examination of samples were carried out separately by the field and the laboratory staff. The results of various degrees of injury such as missing legs, broken shell, soft-shell, etc. in both live and dead crabs were recorded, respectively.

Comment

Diagnosis of death was accomplished by observing the mouth piece movements and the muscle tone of crabs. Absence of movement and muscle tone was taken as evidence of death. In earlier work, this method of diagnosis was compared to diagnosis based on the observation of heart beat of crab and it was found that about 10% of diagnosis was in error. That is, the mortality rate estimated by the present method is about 10% higher than the actual mortality rate of crabs.

C. CHIEFS, INSPECTION DIVISION MEMO - MAY 1976 WHITE OR SOFT-SHELL CRAB (ATTACHED)

D. DFO MEMO - 1976 - SOFT-SHELL CRAB (ATTACHED)

E. DISAPPROVED GRADING SHEET FOR ROUND (RAW) CRAB

A proposed grading sheet for round queen crab is shown in Table 1. This grading sheet was dis-approved by DFO and was never used as a grading guideline.

F. RECOMMENDED CHEMICAL GUIDELINE VALUES FOR CRAB MEAT ASSESSMENT

The recommended chemical guideline values for assessing crab meat are shown in Table 2. FFA and EPN are the suggested chemical tests. Based on organoleptic results FFA and EPN respective values of less than 42 and greater than 1.50; 42-50 and 1.00-1.50; and greater than 50/u moles/ 10 g and less than 1.00 mg-N/100g indicate grades of A, B and F respectively.

G. TIME/TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON POST-MORTEM QUALITY OF QUEEN CRAB

The overall quality evaluations on Atlantic queen crab are based on post-mortem quality deterioration and black discolouration. Since both changes are temperature dependent, a proposed time/temperature relationship has been described in Table 3. Post mortem queen crab can be preserved at an acceptable grade for about 30 and 10 hours at 3 and 13°C respec-tively. However, if the keeping temperature is increased to 23°C for 2 hours the crab meat becomes unacceptable for food uses.

-36-

I L

— 37 —

Chiefs, Inspection Districts 5 & 6 t, Maritimes Region

L ■•tr .

Pi>. et )

-

DM E Inspection Branch

Operations Manager

/Gcvernment Gouvernemeni /..--orCanada du Canada

- - IVI ORANDURil MOTE DE SERVICE

I

SECURITY-CLASSIFICATION - tni slCuma

OLP FILE—NiREFERENCe.

5169-7-1

YOUR HLE—V/REFERENCE

C CI (i

...' ---\---......„-.-----"- DATE

May 25, 1976

suanci THE INSPECTION OF WHITE OR SOFT SHELL QUEEN CRAB DURING THE 1976 SEASON 08.1E7

As you are aware, the Atlantic Queen Crab Regulations were amended in the fall of 1975 to make it illegal for anyone to have in their possession so-called white or soft shell Queen Crab, as well as other amendments regarding minimum size indicated. for Queen Crab.

In August of 1975 Mr. H.A. Laventure conducted workshops in Shippegan and Shediac for members of the industry and fishery officers to establish the criteria by which soft shell Queen Crab could .be identified. Members of industry agreed to the definition arrived at for soft shell Snow Crab; and officers from the Shediac, Shippegan, Newfoundland and Quebec areas were trained to uniformly grade soft shell crab in accordance with the criteria developed at these meetings.

During the meetings held with industry, bon industry and our own personnel agree that:

A "Soft Shell Snow Crab" is one

' (a) whose legs are easily squeezed together by thumb and index finger, • and • •

(b) which when moderate pressure is applied to the inside of the main. .claws, can easily bend the shell. {-

In addition to these two main criteria, the following criteria could also be used when assessing whether crabs are soft shell or not:

A crab which is soft shell is very light in weight compared to a hard shelled crab of the same size.

- As a rule, a soft shell crab is very weak or dead compared with the hard shelled crabs from the same lot.

- The legs of the soft shell crabs are transparent and fluid can be seen floating back and forth when pressure is applied.

- After breaking the legs, the meat will appear as a gelatin-like substance without elasticity.

- The body of the soft shell crab, when butchered, is practically empty ccmpared with the bard shelled crab.

.M. Winchester.

- 38 -

It is emphasized the requirements that no one have in their possess-( ion soft shell crab or carapace smaller than a certain size are contained in the

Atlantic Crab Fishery Regulations; the enforcement of which is the responsibility of the Conservation and Protection Branch.

Inspection Branch has agreed to assist the Conservation & Protection Branch in the enforcement of these Regulations by checking at the plant level only for the presence of soft shell Snow Crab; and if such is found in the possession of plant owners, the crab will be detained and the local Conservation & Protection Officer contacted so that he may take any action necessary under these Regulations. No charges will be laid by the Inspection Branch since we have no authority, and the Inspection Officers,in any case where soft shell crab are found in the plant, will act as witnesses in any legal action initiated by Conservation & Protection Branch.

It is emphasized again that we will take no action at the vessel level, nor will we assist in the enforcement.of any minimum size requirement, etc. for Snow Crab either at the vessel or plant level since these responsibilities will be carried out by the Conservation & Protection Officers.

Mr. Cleo Cormier, Chief, Economics Branch, is attempting to arrange a meeting with Gaspe and Shippegan processors to discuss various ramifications of the Queen Crab program during which he has requested that Inspection Officers from Shediac, Shippegan and Gaspe demonstrate to industry the quality criteria to identify soft shell Snow Crab which is illegal to have in one's possession.

- It is suggested that Mr. C.E. Landry from Shediac and Messrs. 8,V. - Brackett and M.O. Mallet from Shippegan attend this June 4 meeting, which is only tentative and will be confirmed at a later date.

After the meeting and the quality criteria have been agreed to by all concerned, then, arrangements should be made by each Di.strict Officer to have Messrs. Mallet and Landry independently demonstrate to other officers in their respective Districts the quality criteria to identify soft shell Snow Crab.

The Fish Inspection Regulations which state "no person shall possess any crabs or lobster that are not alive" will be enforced by Inspection Officers this season as in past.years.

•

Cc: Chiefs, Inspection Districts 1,2,3,4 & 5 .

Mr, M.C, Cormier

r

- 39 - •

MEMORANDUM NOTE DE SERVICE

F- P. A. Comeau

DATE 30 June 1976

1

FHOM: Director, Field Services

DE:

L

r- Chief, Inspection Division

To: k Chief, Conservation & Protection Divisio A: Ye Chief, Inspection Districts „J.,t7 District Protection Officers

a SUBJECT:1/4

,/sujEr: IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAM TO CONTROL THE PROBLEM OF i61 SOFT SHELLED CRAB

• Is,' " During the past six or seven years, there have been demands 4 on the part of the processors of snow crab for the Govern- ,

,ment to introduce regulations to apply to the snow crab

1.Afr .-industry and in particular, to deal with the soft shelled crab problem. Following several meetings between industry and Departmental representatives, a decision was taken to prohibit, by regulation, the possession of soft shelled crab. The objective of the regulation is to reduce the cost of operation of the processors by making it possible for them to reject soft shelled crab. It has very little appli4- cation to the quality of the product and less to the biology or conservation of the species.

The processors agree to the criteria that will be used to judge soft shelled crab and to the level of competence and uniformity of judgement on the part of inspectors in differ-l-ent locations. The processors have also been informed that the application of the regulation involves judgement and that serious challenge to this judgement would likely bring about rescinding of the regulations.

• The enforcement of this regulation in the Provinne of QuebH.. is the responsibility of their Protection Service. Their Protection Service is agreed to the criteria, the method of applying the regulation and will cooperate with the federal inspectors in its application in Quebec.

The establishment in 1976, through a successful) court case, of the competence and determination on the part of Deparmental personnel to apply this regulation would be considered acic;qua;:e success for 1976 and it is believed that, after that, a suggestion to cull would be sufficient to control the problem of soft shelled crab.

01-1071 (12/74) DOL-1071

- 40 -

Essentially, the implementation of the regulation involves three tasks: first, a judgement that an infraction has been committed; second, the laying of information against such person and third, presentation of expert evidence at court. The first and third tasks are assigned to the Inspection Branch while the second task is assigned to the Protection Branch. With regard to implementation please note the following:

Judgement Regarding Infraction - Designated Inspection personnel will have the complete responsibility to decide that the percentage of soft shelled crab in a given lot is sufficient to lay a charge that an infraction has been committed.

The Location of Inspection - Inspection will be limited initially to crabs located on the plant premises. It is expected that this will result in the fishermen being unable to sell soft shelled crab, and therefore, being uninterested in bringing soft • shelled crab to shore.

Samples - Given the fact that crabs are held in discrete containers, Inspectors will be able to select an appropriate number of containers and to estab-lish what percentage by number of contents are soft.

Tolerance - Because of the method of harvesting, transporting, and warehousing prior to processing, it will be impossible for the crab at the plant to be completely free of any soft shelled specimen. The percentage of soft shelled crab required to result in an infraction under the regulation will be as dis- cussed previously and may be subject to change through time.

Detention - When the percentage of soft shelled crab, as established from sampling, constitutes an infrac-tion, the total lot will be placed under detention. The crab under detention may be culled by the processors. The hard shelled crab may be processed. The soft shelled crab will be disposed of in the same manner as the shells of the crab are now dis-posed of, i.e. without resulting in any pollution.

Evidence - Prior to disposal of the soft shelled crab, the Inspection personnel will contact Protection per-sonnel so that the latter may see the evidence that constitutes the infraction. It is not expected that the evidence need be retained for presentation at court.

- 41 -

Laying of Information

After Protection personnel have seen the evidence that con-. stituted the infraction, they will proceed to lay a charge against the offending person. As soon as the Protection personnel are informed of the date at which the hearing will take place, they will inform Inspection personnel.

Presentation of Expert Evidence in Court

Since the criteria of softness depends upon judgement, Inspection personnel is more apt to be accepted and recog-nized by the court as expert witnesses to explain the cri-teria and the judgement. It will be their responsibility to serve as expert witnesses in the case of any prosecution.

In instances where vessels may bring to shore loads or parts of loads of snow crab that are unacceptable to the producers because they violate the regulation, the captain of such boat will have the responsibility of disposing of these soft shelled crabs in a manner such as not to cause any pollution, i.e. at a sufficient distance in the water.

The attached letter has been distributed to the processors. Nevertheless, the contents of this memo should be discussed with the snow crab processors in your area to assure Lhat they understand the programme, its methods and procedures.

41P At- P. A. Comeau Director, Field Seivices

TABLE 1 PROPOSED GRADING SHEET FOR QUEEN CRAB (RAW)*

GRADE I - LIVE GRADE II - DEAD (ACCEPTABLE)** GRADE III - REJECT QUALITY

APPEARANCE Intact, natural, bright, shinny, showing moveMent,

Intact, bright & shinny to slightly dull, no blueish discolouration on the underside or any section of the crab. Showing no movement, loss of rigidity. No sign of decomposition.

Dead, dull, loss of rigidity, blueish discolouration on the underside or on any other section of the crab. Further deterioration will cause black discolouration.

COLOUR SHELL: bright brownish to brown, no discolouration. MEAT: of natural colour, shinny, pinkish, red and resilient when cooked.

SHELL: somewhat dull, some loss of sheen, no blueish discolouration in any part of the crab. MEAT: red pigments to slight bleaching of red pigments when cooked, gills still of natural greenish colour.

SHELL: dull to somewhat turning blue or black. MEAT: blue to black discolouration in the leg and body meat, gills showing black discolouration and oxidization.

ODOUR ' SHELL: strong characteristic odour. MEAT: pleasant, strongly Characteristic. Also digestive juices & liver have natural and characteristic odour.

SHELL: characteristic to slightly neutral odor. MEAT: characteristic to slight neutral, digestive juices & liver has natural odour to slight neutral.

SHELL: has a neutral to offensive odour (sour, ammoniacial) MEAT: somewhat stale to strong, off odour in juices or meat. •

FLAVOUR (Cooked)

Sweet, pleasant, strong characteristic of the species.

Sweet, strong to slightly weak characteristic of the species.

Some'after taste, stale, turnipy to offensive flavour

TEXTURE Resilient, firm & elastic with colour less liquid (breaking raw legs)

Resilient, firm to slightly soft and slight loss of elasticity.

No resiliency, soft, breaking under thumb and finger friction. MEAT: fibres are soft when cooked.

TEMPERATURE Crab kept well iced to keep temperature around 35'F and properly handled.

Crab kept well iced to keep temperature around 35'F and properly handled.

Poorly chilled or handled causing rapid deterioration.

* Prepared by North Eastern New Brunswick; disapproved by DFO. **These are only information. Reference and never used as Grading Guidelines.

- 43 -

TABLE 2. Comparison of recommended chemical guideline values for assessing the quality of crabmeat

Grade FFA EPN

(,amole/10g) (mg-N/100g)

A (42 ) 1.50

B 42-50 1.00-1.50

F )50 <1.00

* Taken from: Quality improvement investigations for Atlantic Queen Crab (Chionoectes opilio). P.J. Ke, B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar (1981). Can Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 1002.

-44-

. TABLE 3. Time/temperature effects on post-mortem quality of queen crab prior to processing.

Keeping Time (hour) Temperature

°C Acceptable

Borderline Unacceptable

3 < 30 48 > 48

13 <10 18 7 18

23 2 .7 2

* Taken from: Quality Improvement Investigations for Atlantic Queen Crab (Chionoectes opilio) P.J. Ke, B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar (1981). Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 1002.

-45-

APPENDIX 1

DEVELOPMENT OF FISH GRADING STANDARDS AT SELLING POINT BY USING SCIENTIFIC QUALITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES. P.J. Ka, 1983. Presented in the First National. Fish Technology Conference, Washington, D.C. November 1983.

SCIENTIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FISH

In the laboratory, fish may be considered a biological-chemical entity. The meat is composed of about 75-80% water, 16-20% protein, 1-10% fat, and traces of inorganic salts and minerals. The first component, water, is the life giving substance surrounding and suspending other molecules and acting as the medium in which bioChemical reactions taken place. Removal of this phase, as in the drying process, preserves the product by effectively stopping or greatly retarding deleterious reactions. The fat content of fish is relatively low and -although fat oxidizes during storage to produce off-flavours, the overall effect of lipid deterioration on fish quality may be considered minimal and becomes only important during frozen storage. The remaining component, therefore, which is responsible for the decrease of quality is protein.

Protein is an ordered array of very large molecules and predominately of structural function. However, one protein class, the enzymes, is very active in life-sustaining biochemical reactions. The delicate state of enzyme equilibrium and control maintained by body regulators fails when an organism dies and from that point enzymatic reactions proceed unhindered. Since the circulatory system has stopped, raw materials for building are quickly depleated and only degradative reactions continue; structural proteins are reduced to smaller subunits by their "molecular cousins°, the enzymes. Not only are these by-products foul smelling and putrid to the taste, but in fish some may produce undesirable texture denaturation and discolorations. In some fish, particularly herring and mackerel, digestive enzymes of the viscera can literally digest their way through the belly flap. This extreme case of enzyme action is termed "belly burst°.

Naturally occuring enzymes are not the only source of degradative activity in stored fish. While living, all organisms have-protective mechanisms barring the entrance of bacteria. When life processes stop, bacteria quickly invade the body and secrete powerful enzymes to begin the digestion of tissues. Therefore at death fish enters a state of uncontrolled enzymatic protein degradation from both natural and bacteria sources which results in the accumuLation of peptides, amines, ammonia and other nitrogen containing compounds. While

this chaotic state is undersirable for preservation, a study of the levels of these by-products makes it possible to develop methods for the assessment of fish quality.

Although the fat content of groundfish is low and is not likely to influence the short term storage quality, fish liver is very high in fat, approximately 20%. Since fats are susceptible to enzymatic and chemical oxidation reactions, so the fatty fish is greatly altered during is and ;cl frozen storage. This factor may not specif cally affect eating quality but is a useful phenomenon from a quality monitoring standpoint, in particular to ransidity development.

SCIENTIFIC'WALITY ASSESSMENT

Various quality parameters which are sensitive, reliable, reproducible and change as a function of quality deterioration and keeping time, can be selected and applied to fish lity evaluation. Comprehensive reviews on quality indicators have been initiated in our laboratory. The most useful quality parameters are total volatile bases, total volatile acids; extractable proteins, hypoxanthine value, trimethylamine value, dimethylamine value, thiobarbaturic acid reactive substances valSe, free fatty acid value, peroxide value, carbonyl value, pH value, dielectric behavior, polyene index and texture index etc.

In order to develop standards for selling point grading, the following rules must be considered when selecting quality parameters for the laboratory evaluation:

(1) to select at least 2 indicators for your operation,

(2) two of the three types of quality changes; micro-organism, enzymatic and chemical reactions must be covered,

. (3) the reacting substances should be tested in a matrix such as proteins, fats, water, indication compounds etc.

The relative variations for laboratory evaluations of fish have been sumarized in tables 1 and 2. With good control, the overall errors can be maintained at no more than 10%.

The procedure for selecting quality parameters for laboratory quality assessment of fish is described using squid as an example. Quality changes of squid samples held at +2'C in terms of TVB, TKA, and FFA values have been summarized in Fig. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The broken lines indicate suggested limits for Grade A (excellent) and Grade B (acceptable) quality, 'and have been established from sensory data for both TVB and TMA values.

Our preliminary data indicates a potential third indicator of fresh squid quality based on the accumulation of products of enzymatic fat

-46-

APPENDIX I (Cont'd)

hydrolysis, i.e. the measurement of free, fatty acids (FFA). Squid contains a high portion of triglycerides and unsaturates. The increase of FFA in both liver tissue and liver oil as a function of holding time is depicted in Figure 3. However, the small overall change and larger deviation may limit the usefulness of this analysis. A more extensive study must be completed before FFA data can be applied objectively to the assessment of overall squid quality.

STANDARD DEVELOPMENT FOR SELLING POINT GRADING

The detailed operation of quality standard development has been illustrated in Fig. 4. As in previous reports, fish grades have been divided into two/three classes; Grade A of excellent quality and Grade B/C of acceptable quality. The A, B/C division is the point at which the organoleptic panel first is able to detect the quality change in the product at P 0.05 by non-parametric statistical treatment.

Last class or grade F is of unacceptable quality and is rejected.by the panel at P 0.05 by parametric analysis. an example of the grading standards for squid and groundfish are presented in Appendix A and B. The comparative evaluation of quality assessment by scientific evaluation and selling point operation are compared in Fig. S.

In addition to grading operation as shown in Fig. 5, the overall quality assessment determined by laboratory tests and physical grading (selling point or dockside evaluation) have been summarized in Fig. 6 and 7 from the results of the past three years. It can be concluded that physical grading can be employed satisfactorily for fresh groundfish and shellfish with less than 15% error on an accept/reject grade and 25% on quality differential evaluation. Scientific (laboratory) tests have demonstrated much better sensitivity and reproducibility (Table 3), but, these methods are still limited when applied to field operations. However, scientifical quality evaluation using selected parameters, should provide a useful tool for developing quality standards. of fish for various field grading operations.

REFERENCES

Cox, H.E. and D. Pearson, 1962. °Chemical Analysis of Foods°. Chem. Pub. Co., Ltd., New York, pp. 321.

Dyer, W.J., 1945. Amines in fish muscle, I. Colorimetric determination of trimethylamine as the picrate salt. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 6:351.

Iwamoto, M. and H. Uchiyama, 1969. Effect of Chemical ice on quality keeping of marine products. Bull. TOkai'Reg. Fish. Res. Lab. 60:185.

Jangaard, P.M. and R.G. Ackman, 1965. Lipids and component fatty acids of the Newfoundland squid, Illex. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 22:131.

Joseph, J" P.R. Girija Varma and R. Venk ataraman, 1977. Iced and frozen storage of squid. Fish Technology, 14:13.

Ke, P.J. and A.D. Woyewoda, 1978. A .titrimetric 'method for determination of free fatty acids in tissues and lipid with ternary solvents and m-cresol purple indicator. Anal. Chim. Acta 99:387.

Ke, P.J., B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar, 1981. Quality improvement investigation for Atlantic queen crab. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. AquatiC Sci. No. 1002.

Ke, P.J., B. Smith-Lall and A.W. Woyewoda, 1981. Methodoligical investigation of fish quality evaluation in terms of TBA and FFA procedures. Presented in 25th AFTC, Norfolk, VA. August 16-19, 1981. •

Larmond, E., 1977. °Laboratory methods for sensory evaluation of food°. Argiculture Canada, Pub. No. 1637.

Matsumoto, J.J., 1958. Some aspects on the water soluble proteins of squid mantle. Bull. 'Midi Reg. Fish. Res. Lab. 20:65.

Robles C., E. Cervantes and P.J. Ke, 1982. • Recommended method for testing the objective

rancidity development in fish based on.TEAMS formation. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquatic Sc. No. 1089.

Siegel, S. 1956. °Non-parametric statistics for behavioral sciences'. McGraw-Hill Co., Toronto, pp 166.

Takagi, M., A. Lida and S. Oka 1971. On the formation of unvolatile amines during putrefication in the muscle of squid and octopus. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. ?7:1079.

Takahashi, T., 1956. Biochemical studies on viscera of cuttlefish (ommastrephes sloani pacificus). II on the nitrogenous compounds hot water extract of liver. Bull. Jap. Soc. Fish. 43:1233.

Woyewoda, A.D. and P.J. Ke, 1980. Laboratory Quality Assessment of Canadian Atlantic Squid. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquatic Sci. No. 902.

- 47 -

TABLE L

RELATIVE-ERRORS IN LABORATORY QUALITY EVALUATION

0/0

Operational 0-10

Correlational 5-20

Seasonal 10-25

Methodology 5-40

Sampling 5-60

1

- 48 -

TABLE 2

Proteins

Lipids

Waters

Over-all errors in various laboratory evaluations

12 16 20%,

4-12

1

I

indication Compounds

Single

Group

1

- 49 -

TABLE 3. SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON SCIENTIFIC FISH

QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Advantages:

more specific

more reliable and reproducible

relatively simpler and faster

good for diff. evaluation

good for RID projects

Disadvantages:

limited application to field

requires some apparatus and lab

slightly higher costs

scientific staff

10 —

0 e

— 5U

1

2 3 4 5 6

HOLDING TIME AT 2°C(DAYS)

Figure 1. Changes in total volatile bases (TYB) over time for squid held in air at 42°C.

- 51 -

30

25

E

0 20

z

z 15

›- I-

2 FE 10

5

0

1 2 3 4 5 6

HOLDING TIME AT 2• C (DAYS)

Figure 2. Changes in trimethyl amine (TMA) over time for squid held in air at +2°C.

— 52—

300' —•

200

100

At/

-- 100

O

1- 80

I-

0 U o 60 U

)-

40 La

- ■■■■•■1

Tisseir

20

2 ,3 4 5

KEEPING TIME (DAYS)

Figure 3. Changes in free fatty acid content (FFA) in liver tissue and liver fats over time for squid kept in air at +2°C.

Sampling

Differential Quality Reearch

Training Panel

1 Composition

• Tests

Quality Indicator Selection

Organoleptic Standards Development

1 Taste Panel

Correlation Studies

- 53 -

FIG. 4,

SCIENTIFIC QUALITY GRADING

FOR FISH

Standards Development

A

>-

0

- 54 -

FIG. 5. Variations on fish grading by physical and laboratory methods

FHB

BSA

TIME

9% (Lab.) A or B 21% (Phys.)

rArar.4" 4/4M; 9% 1 30%

• /al%) 11%

13%

A/B

B/F

F

17%

18%

■.\\■.\:.1 8%

- 55 -

FIG. 6. Comparison of over-all errors between physical and chemical quality gr

Fresh 1 21% (Phys. grading)

._■■■•■■■■■■ 12% (Lab grading)

ding

Frozen 25%

Canned 25%

1

Dried 16%

32%

Frozen Cod Fillet

I 21%

s...■\\7 5%

Frozen Herring Block

I 23%

7%

8%

- 56 -

FIG. 7, Comparison of over-all errors for some selected samples

I 18% (Phys. grading) Fresh Cod

..\-\\■■■": 10% (Lab. grading)

Fresh Scallop

Frozen Crab

Frozen Squid

13%

10%

16%

1 20%

6%

Fresh Sea I 1-1) N/A

Cucumber ,--■■■■■■■■■•.% 12%

Grade ACCEPTABLE .

- 57 - APPENDRX.

HOW TO GA - Physical Quality Evaluation

Skin Colour Reddish Brown

Grade A Texture - Firm, elastic .

GOOD Inside Mantle - Off white, no stains

Odour - Squid Odour •

Skin Colour - Greyish-white

Texture - Reasonably firm

Inside Mantle - Few yellow stains

Odour - Some fishy odour •

Grade F „UNACCEPTABLE

Skin Colour - Some pinkish spots

= Texture - Soft

Inside Mantle Yellow, brown, green stains.

Odour - Offensive odour

APPENDIX 2A .1982 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROJECT - GROUNDFISH LANDED QUALITY GRADES

Grades will be assigned using 'the cannIngdion of factors under Texture and Handling.P:actices (Table 1), Examination in the hound, Gutted or Hoaucd Form (Table 2) and, Examination of Cut Surfaces (Table 3). NOTE: A lot of fish shall be rejected if the percent of reject fish exceeds.10% of the number of fish in the sample, except that a 15% level will apply to fish rejected for reasons of jelliness or chalkiness. Where a lot is rejected, the owner may.

. cull the fish and request a regrading, the results of which are final.

TABLE 1 TEXTURE AND HANDLING PRACTICES GRADE Ai

The fish is firm, resilient and has been properly bled, gutted, washed and iced at sea. Flat fish, except grey sole, shall be bobtailed. Al). flat fish shall be washed and iced at sea, but heed not be gutted. GRADE B:

In-fish is reasonably firm, resilient, and gutted, washed and iced at sea. OR

The fish is firm, resilient, and has not Leon gutted but has been washed and iced at sea. All flat fish shall be washed & iced at sea, but need not be gutted. CE

TADFL

heCL fish is slightly soft and has not been

:gutted, washed and iced at sea. OR fe

The fish is moderately soft if gutted, washed l e.nd iced at sea. OR The fish is firm, resilient gutted, but not washed and iced at sea.

REJECT: The fish is: - 1) Tainted, decomposed or unwholesome, OR 2) Rejected by criteria in Table 2 or 3, OR 3) moderately soft and has not been gutted,

washed and iced at sea, OR 4) Soft and has been gutted, washed and iced

at sea.

NOTE: Fish shall be properly washed, in clean sea water, to remove excess blood, viscera, slime, and all mud, sand, sea bottom debris and extraneous material.

Fish shall be preserved by the use of • finely divided ice sutfietent to reduce and hold

the temperature at 4°C (40°F) or lower and the Lee shall be evenly distributed throughout the catch.

Fish shall be boxed or stored in pens such that the storage height of the fish does not

. exceed 90 cm (36") and a storage record of the fish catch shall bo maintained.

I All vessels shall be well maintained (construe-:ion, equipment and sanitation) as per FIR.

TABLE 2 EXAMINATION IN THE ROUND, GUTTED OR HEADED FORM

Fish will be graded into Grades A,B, or C by rating all characteristics which are available.

Fish will be rejected if:

a) The flesh at the neck when cut'has any sour or putrid odours, OR

b) The odour of the gills is strong, sour or putrid.

GRADE A:- Average Defect Points -Less than 2

GRADES B/C:- Average Defect Points -2 or more

Characteristics Defect

Odour at neck Neutral 2 when cut

Gills - Odour Neutral 1 Faint-sour 2 Slight to moderate 3 sour

General Very light bleaching 1 Appearance Some loss of metallic 2

lustre, some bleaching Bloom gone and colour 3 faded and bleached

Eyes Slightly sunken or 1

somewhat dull Dull and or cloudy it More dull, sunken and 3" cloudy

Gills Red - some mucous present 2 Pinkish - red to brownish 1 .

Brown, maybe covered with 3 mucous

TABLE 3 EXAMINATION OF CUT SURFACES

Odour - Rejected by any objectionable odour.

Blood Clots

A. - None B. - No combination of blood clots exceeding

4 cm in total maximum dimension in any one fillet:

C. - One or any combination of blood clots which exceed 4 cm in total maximum dimension in any one fillet.

Discolouration

A. - No single discolouration, nor any com-bination, exceeding 2 cm in total maxi-mum dimension in any one fillet.

B. - No single discolouration, nor any combin tion, exceeding 5 cm in total maximum dimension in any one fillet.

C. - Any single discolouration as combination the total surface area of which does not exceed 50% of the total surface area of any one fillet.

GRADE A:- Jelly; None Chalky: None or slightly chalky

GRADE B:- Jelly: Slightly jellied Chalky: Moderately chalky

GRADE C;- Jelly: Moderately jellied Chalky: Heavy chalky

REJECT: - Any discolOUntion, the total sur-face area of which exceeds 50t of the total surface area of any one fill

Points

APPENDIX B2: DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES & OCEANS

GRADES - GROUNDFISH FILLETS (ATLANTIC COAST)

SCALE ODOUR RAW FILLETS TEXTURE APPEARANCE

10 Strong Characteristic Firm Bright, moist Glistening

9 Medium Characteristic Firm Bright, moist Glistening

8 Weak Characteristic Firm Bright, moist Glistening

7 Neutral, no definite Slightly soft Dun odour Slightly dry Slightly greyish

6 Slight turnipy or Slightly soft Dun vegetable-1 ike very slight stale

Slightly dry Slightly greyish

5 Turnip or vegetable-like Slightly soft Slight evidence of Slight salt fish Slight fruity

Slightly dry yellow or greenish discolouration

Very slight sour Slightly stale

4 Slight to medium amonia Soft, dry Dark greyish Stale, sour Dark yellowish Slightly rancid Bleached Salt fish-like Otherwise off

3-0 Strong amonia Slimy or glue-like Yellowish or. greenish Strong sour Mushy otherwise discoloured Bilgy Putrid Rancid p

APPENDIX 2

Page 1 of 2 ORGANOLEPTIC ANALYSIS SHEET FQR FRESH QUEEN CRABMEAT

NAME: DATE:

Please evaluate the quality of these crab samples, using the table below. Check which description best describes the sample.

Odour Pleasant, characteristic crab odour

SI. characteristic to neutral

Sl. turnipy to vegetable-] ike

Stale, W. sour; turnipy, sl. ammonia

Sour, stg. ammonia, putrid

Sample

•

COlour Pigment (leg), pink-red Pigment (leg), sl. dull Pigment (leg), dull Pigment (leg), dull, bleached Pigment (leg), dull, Sample Meat, creamy white

EiTilt, glistening. . Meat, creamy white, -Rigiof sheen

Meat, dull or al. no pigment, Meat, yellow discoloration,

bleached; Meat, yellow or grey, al. yellow

discolouration greyness green discoloration

Texture Firm, elastic, moist Long fibres in leg meat

Firm, elastic moist

Loss of elasticity shredded or grated appearance

Soft, limp, soggy, chalky, shredded or grated appearance

Mushy, slimy Sample

APPENDIX 2

Page 2 of 2

Flavour Characteristic crab flavour, mild, sl. sweet

Sl. characteristic to neutral

Si. turnipy, sl. bitter after- taste

Stale, s]. sour turnipy, bitter after taste

Sour, very stale, very unpleasant after taste, putrid

Sample

Overall

Very Good Good .

Fair Slightly spoiled Spoiled Accept- ability Sample

. .

Genera] Comments:

APPENDIX 3

DATA SHEET FOR CRAB TRAINING COURSE - FEBRUARY 1983

Name of Trainee:

Date & Time: Page of

Sample No. Live

Weak Dead

Ccaments A Grade B Grade B Grade Rejected

- 63 -

V WHITE/SOFT SHELL CRAB, ASSESSING TECHNIQUES

by

E. Power and P. Frost

Inspection Division

Fisheries Operations Branch

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

P.O. Box 1085

Sydney, Nova Scotia

B1P 6J7

-65-

A. MAJOR ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The Atlantic Snow or Queen Crab Regulations were amended in the fall of 1975 to make it illegal for anyone to have in their possession so-called soft shell Snow or Queen Crab; as well as other amendments regarding minimum size.

Two main criteria for the assessment of Soft Shell are:

1) Whose legs are easily squeezed together by thumb & index finger.

2) Which when moderate pressure is applied to the inside of the main claw, can easily bend the shell.

B. ADDITIONAL CRITERIA USED

1) A crab which is soft shelled is very light in weight.

2) A soft shell is weak or dead compared with the hard shelled crabs of the same lot.

3) The legs of the soft shell crab are transparent and fluid can be seen floating back and forth when pressure is applied.

4) After breaking the legs, the meat will appear as a gelatin-like substance without elasticity.

5) The body of the soft shell crab, when butchered, is practically empty compared with the hard shelled crab.

- 67 -

VI ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB FISHERY: QUALITY CONCERNS-

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

by

R.J. Bourque

Inspection Services Branch

DFO - Gulf Region

Memramcook Institute

P.O. Box 270

St. Joseph, Westmorland Co.

New Brunswick

EOA 2Y0

-69-

A. CRAB - A LUXURY PRODUCT?

When the crab industry began in Eastern Canada, it set high goals for itself. It wanted to put up a "cocktail quality" product to rival the King Crab of Alaska and its fellow crustacean - the Lobster.

Regulations were proposed and adopted (e.g. Section 23 of F.I.R.). Even the name "Queen Crab' and market Brands "Luxury Brand" are clear indication of the reverence that exists for this specie.

Crab quality has sometimes been 'fit for a queen", but unfortunately some of it is quite the contrary. Like many other species it suffers from inconsistencies in final pack and in landed quality.

In 1982 crab quality appeared to improve but did it really?

In Eastern New Brunswick and Quebec, 1982 saw a greater percentage of the raw product landed processed into crab sections for the Japanese trade. This demanding market requeSted 'supervision of crab processing by its buyers to ensure that only undamaged, hard shelled full crab was processed into crab clusters. The remainder of the crabs landed were processed into frozen blocks or canned. The fact that inventory for frozen blocks and canned product were kept low due to the high demand for sections combined to a closure of the fishery in the peak of °white" or soft shelled crab period resulted in lesser quality problems on the markets. It would be very difficult to substantiate that crab quality in 1982 did in effect improve.

B. CRAB - A SENSITIVE SPECIE!

to illustrate the sensitiveness of the species, I will make a physical analogy -compare the apple and the egg. Drop the apple And it will suffer damage but not to the extent you will expect with an uncooked egg. Crab is as fragile as the egg.

Start treating your crab as though they were eggs and maybe you will soon be surprised at the results. This will not be easy. Crab boats are that mainly because they carry crab; essentially they were really constructed for groundfish species; and later converted.

Any solutions we will seek must be practical and should also be long range if we are to succeed. We may be able to improve the present quality substantially by better handling, transport and processing methods but additional significant improvements will only come with implementation of an overall plan.

C. CRAB - STUDIES

A number of studies and reports along with their recommendations have been produced since the crab fishery began in Eastern Canada some fifteen years ago. A minimum of at least nine separate study reports, having the common denominator of "improved crab quality" are available to those engaged in the harvesting and processing of Queen Crab. By reading all these documents, one can find most of all the answers to questions raised about crab handling to produce quality.

The bottom line to this whole matter of quality is not based on available knowledge alone. If that were the case, we would be far more advanced than we are presently.

In reality, the two most important factors to success are:

1st - Attitude: Do we really want an improved quality?

2nd - Commitment Are we commited to make the necessary changes that will be required for an improved quality?

If we wish to produce a consistently good product and/or improve the quality we can do it!

To this end, the following "Action Plan° highlighting specific control points is offered for study.

b. ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

Check Point Decision Description Communication Controls

CONSTRUCTION

Minimum standards !- Schedule III (shelving, protect from weather, etc.)

- Improved insulation of fish hold. Captain to train -Verification - Additional refrigeration equipment. his crew. by captain. - Use of chutes. - Use of boxes. Explain how, why -DFO -Enforce - - Improved storage area by use of CMA or RSW and importance of ment of minimum

systems. proper handling standards. Reduce storage height by increasing shelving. practices Etc....

VESSELS

OPERATION

- Minimum standards - Schedule III (sections 20 to 23 - F.I.R.)

- "Adequate" icing of crab. The role of each -Verification - Duration of fishing trips reduced. crew member must by captain.

be clearly defined -Rules of the - Avoid rough handling of live crab. and understood. game explained - Store crabs back carapace upwards. and in display - Avoid walking on crabs. for to - Avoid overloading of boxes. - Avoid pulling on crab by legs. -DFO-Enforce- - Avoid throwing crab in hold. ment of minimum - Reduce time of crab on deck. standards. - Log and identify daily catch. - Improve cleaning and sanitizing of holds.

- Applicable Regulations (dead, size, etc.) - No white or soft shelled crab (5%) Definition of "white" -DFO-Enforce- - No dead crab (10%) and "dead" crab ment.

RAW - Segregate weak from healthy crab or understood by all -Established

MATERIAL damaged crab. parties. tolerance by plant or buyer.

-Established tolerance by captain.

ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

Check Point

Decision

Description

Communication

Controls

OFFLOADING HANDLING HOLDING & TRANSPORT

CONSTRUCTION

OPERATION

Minimum standards - Schedule V Adequate offloading mechanism (speed and efficiency).

- Offloading equipment damaging animals? - Adequate storage - cool, insulated? - Installation of culling equipment. - Adequate holding containers. - Ice making facility in proximity. - Etc

- Minimum standards - Schedule V - Re-icing of crab? - Identity of caught age of crab identified

and maintained. ' - Load quota verified. - Avoid overfilling of boxes. - Avoid walking on crab. - Avoid pulling crabs•by legs. - Reduce time exposure to sun and weather. - Handle containers with care (fragile-glass). - Transport vehicle insulated and cool. - Crab protected from sun & weather during

transport. Reduce time factor from vessel hold to plant storage.

- Additional refrigeration unit needed in transport. Transport vehicle equipped to shelve load.

Captain to instruct crew and offloading team on how, why and importance of following established "rules of the game°.

-Vessel Captain.

-Offloading foreman.

-Receiving plant and/or buyer.

ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

CheCk Point Decision Description

Communication Controls

Captain - Healthy and damaged crab segregated. Both, seller and -Grading and - Load intermixed with dead and white crab. buyer, have to unloading.

What is to be - White crab defined, tolerance agreed to? clearly understand -Verification the condition - Dead crab defined, tolerance agreed to? what quality of by captain at of the crab - Load segregated for size? crab is to be unloading. offered for - Crab graded for quality? bought and/or sold. -Verification sale. (grading standards established). by buyer at

- Crab well iced and in boxes. Establish clearly unloading. defined conditions (soft shelled/dead) and agree to accept- able tolerance levels.

POINT OF SALE

I es, r, Buyer - Healthy and damaged crab segregated. -Fishing 1 - Load intermixed with dead and white crab, season

What is to be - White crab defined, tolerance agreed to? (not neces- the condition - Dead crab defined, tolerance agreed to? sary if of the crab - Load segregated for size? agreement available for - Crab graded for quality? reached on purchase. (grading standards established). no soft shell

- Crab well iced and in boxes. or dead crab).

ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

Check Point Decision Description

Communication Controls

CONSTRUCTION - Minimum plant construction standards. - Storage facility - cool, well insulated. Foremen to ensure -Plant - Adequate refrigeration system. that "rules of the foreman. - Adequate offloading/receiving system. game° are fully - Etc understood and -Quality

respected by all control processing crew. section.

PROCESSING - Minimum operational standards. PLANT - Adequate, cleaning/sanitizing of holding

containers. OPERATION - Adequate icing.

- Culling of crab prior to butchering. - Reduce time in storage and in process. - Good handling and processing practices,

etc. etc

QUALITY -. Identify caught age of crab. CONTROL - Segregate crab as to type of process

(healthier - canned product).

ACTION PLAN - MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BY IMPROVED QUALITY

Check Point Decision Description

Communication Controls

- Operation standards. Personnel training -Various CANNED - Good manufacturing practices. with clear definition critical

- Grade standards. of responsibility points level for all. within

processing plant.

- Operation standards. -Foreman FINAL FRESH/ - Good manufacturing practices PRODUCT FROZEN - Grade standards. -Quality

Control

-Section Managers.

- Operation standards. 1 SECTION, - Good manufacturing practices.

ETC.... - Grade standards.

-75-

E. POLICY ON CRAB PROCESSING

AIM:

To maintain the quality of crab (only live crab to be processed) through application of the regulations.

METHOD:

To use an indicator of 10% of mortality (at the point of inspection i.e. at landing or at the processing plant) to determine the action to follow.

When the quantity of dead crab exceeds 10% culling must take place ensuring that all dead crab goes for other than- human consumption.

When the quantity of dead crab is less than 10% crab which show signs of decomposition (such as blackening or discoloration) must be culled and disposed of.

We will permit that culling be carried out at the plant but it must be done prior to the butchering station.

After culling when crab is stored in ideal conditions and it cannot be processed within the next 8-hour period the cycle of culling using the 10% tolerance must be adhered to again before processing starts up once more.

ENFORCEMENT:

It is the responsibility of the fishermen and/or the buyer to do the culling when necessary.

DFO Officers will ensure strong enforcement of the law and when there is contravention may initiate legal action. Section 23, Schedules 3 and 4 and any other regulations applicable will be enforced.

F. CONCLUSION

In conclusion the quality of crab will be improved if:

1. We adopt a positive attitude towards the problems to be solved.

2. We commit ourselves to finding a solution.

3. We develop a realistic plan:

(a) We must make some decisions

(1) as a group - (e.g. crab season, raw material standards and product standards).

(2) as individuals (e.g. on construction and operations of fishing boats, on transport systems, in plants).

(b) Roles must be clearly identified for

(1) fishermen; (2) producers; (3) DFO.

(c) Everyone must be made aware of the plan.

(d) We must establish controls.

With the development of a workable plan, a positive attitude and a strong commitment from all members engaged in the harvesting and processing of Queen Crab will undoubtably give benefical results!

G. REFERENCES

1. Etude et recommendations sur les facteurs causant une diminution de la qualite du Crab des neiges. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans Document Nov. 1981.

2. The Atlantic Snow Crab, Underwater World, Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Document 1981.

3. McAllister H. Processing and handling of Atlantic Queen Crab. Ind. Develop. Ser. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans, May 1967, Project Report No. 6.

4. Simpson S.L. and Simpson J. Interim Report Atlantic Queen Crab, Newfoundland, 1967. Ind. Develop. Ser. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans, Feb. 1968, Project Report No. 10.

5. WHO/FAO. Project revise de code d'usages principles generous d'hygiene alimentaire at appendice I - nettoyage et desinfection Dept. Fisheries and Oceans Document.

6. Les points importants du fonctionnement d'une conserverie pour assurer l'innoculte des produits de la piche en conserve. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans Document Nov. 1980.

7. Code Canadien des pratiques de monutention recommandees pour les aliments. Prepare par: L'Association de l'Industrie des Aliments Surgeles du Canada. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans Document JUne 1981.

8. Presentation des programmes de contrele de la qualite dans l'industrie des piches. Dept. Fisheries and Oceans Document.

9. Reference manual to codes of practice for fish and fishery products. FAO Fisheries Circular No. C750.

10. Ke P.J., Smith -Lall B. and Dewar A.B. Quality Improvement Investigations for Atlantic Queen Crab (Chionectes Opilio) Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 1002 1981.

- 7 6-

11. Ministere des peches du Noveau-Brunswick Amelioration de la qualite dans l'industrie de la piche au crab 1980.

12. Savoie R. Queen Crab Fishery and Development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence presented to the N.B. Department of Fisheries and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. School of Fisheries Caraquet, N.B. Jan. 1969.

13. Atlantic Snow Crab Fishery in the 80's - a discussion paper, Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans Sept. 1981.

APPENDIX 1 - DFO MEMO 1983 'WHITE CRAB" EVALUATIONS

- 77 -

MEMORANDUM NOTE DE SERVICE 4.):41-- 1`i ry lu C.41' iFf cia

R.J. Bourque Director - Inspection Gulf Region

I - F OM

DE

G. Sirois Chief. Inspection Area #4 Shediac, N.B.

SECURITY. CLASSIFICATION - DE SECWUTE

OUR FiLE/NOTRE REFERENCE

_J YOUR FILENOTRE REFERENCE

DATE

__J . 1983-01-17

SUBJECT "White Crab" Evaluations OBJET

Reference is made to your correspondence of December 10, 1982, to J. Loch, Director, Research Branch.

I would like to.focus on two items raised in this corres-pondence - (a) the method of determining "white" crab yields, and (b) communication of policy to the industry.

(a) In working with Queen Crab processors, we quickly realized that each has his own interpretation of yield and determine the same in their own particular manner on the finished product.

We have used a simple, quick method at arriving at true yields.

- 100 lbs. of raw material is weighed, butchered, cooked and cooled in normal fashion.

- The sections are then shucked by one worker and the resulting meat weighed, giving a shucked meat/raw shellstock ratio.

On one such occasion, with large Cape Breton crab, the resulting yield was close to 30%.

Since the opening and/or closing of a season is going to be dependent on the'yield, it is felt that it is very important to obtain a realistic yield and that the de-termination thereof is not affected by other mishandling factors such as cooking time, length of process, product loss, etc

2

- 78 -

- 2

It is felt that if the above method of yield determi-nation was introduced to the industry as the only "official yield" method, then the question of uniformity would more or less be resolved.

- The "quick and dirty" method of detecting "white crab" referred to in your letter can well be based on the inspectors' experience of the animals at the holding room. There are numerous physical telltale traits that are indicative of animals in various stages of moulting such as -

- Pinkish or whitish appearance of the undershell. - Visible fluid in the leg shells. - The relative low weight/size ratio upon lifting each crab.

Upon noticing the above indicators, utilizing a uniform method for yield determination, the department would be in a better position to action on a crab fishery season.

(b) In your closing paragraph, the importance of.communica- ting the department's policy is stressed. •

I wish to remind you that not only is it important to communicate our policy concerning the yield-season aspect but also our enforcement of Section 23 as it per- tains to this fishery. It was understood from our meeting in Quebec City (Aug. 82) that the various Inspection Areas implied would,meet to review the past season's operation and then a general meeting with all of members of the in-dustry would be held.

As you are no doubt aware, there are divergence of opinion in amongst members of the industry, and then again between geographic areas as to our enforcement policy in regards to Section 23 and thp white crab-season issue.

It is therefore judged of utmost importance that the Department meets with all of the industry (Quebec, Northern and Southern New Brunswick) to consolidate its position on these matters.

G. Siroi1s, Chief Inspection Area #4.

GS/b

- 79 -

VII INFORMATION TRANSFER: QUEEN CRAB HANDLING

AND THE RELATED OPERATIONS

by

P.J. Ke

Fisheries Development Branch

DFO Scotia-Fundy Region

P.O. Box 550

Halifax, Nova Scotia

B3J 2S7

- 81 -

A. CODE OF PRACTICE FOR PROCESSING QUEEN

CRAB

C.M. Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Dewar (1969)

Reprinted from Canadian Fisheries Reports #13

"Proceedings of Meeting on Atlantic Crab Fishery

Development", Fredericton, N.B. March

— 83 —

Code of Practice for Processing

Queen Crab

by C.M. Blackwood, Ph.D., S. Varga, M.Sc.,

A.B. Dewar, B.Sc. Inspection Branch, Fisheries Service

Department of Fisheries and Forestry of Canada

Halifax, N.S.

Dr. Blackwood

CONTENTS

A. Processing

1. Handling of Raw Material

2. Butchering and Precooking Butchering Degilling Washing Precooking Cooling

3. Meat Extraction

4. Shell and Cartilage Removal

5. Washing

6. Brining

7. Draining

8. Packaging for Freezing

9. Freezing and Storage

10. Canning Cans Filling Closing Can Washing

Retorting Cooling Storage Quality Grades

B. Sanitary Program for Crab Meat Plants

1. Surrounding area of the Packing Plant

2. Water Supply

3. Construction of Building and Equipment requirement

4. Personnel Hygiene

5. Plant Cleanup at the end of Processing

6. Sanitation during Processing

This paper contains a "Code of Practice" for the processing of Queen Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) to produce top quality fresh, frozen and heat processed products. Solutions to technical problems in processing and plant sanitation are briefly discussed.

A. PROCESSING

1. Handling of Raw Material

(a) It is essential that crabs be kept alive after capture and in ltL•althy condition up to the time of processing. The animals have to be treated with

— 84 —

ATLANTIC CRAB FISHERY DEVELOPMENT

care to prevent injury. If they arc allowed to die or even become very weak prior to processing, there are irr;versible changes in the flesh which cause advetse changes in the texture, appearance, :Ind tlavour of the cooked meat. It is not possible to ensure a quality product unless only live crabs are used for processing.

Commercially these crabs can be held alive on board boats or in plants in tanks supplied with flowing sea water at 40-45°F or lower. The surface water temperature on the Canadian Atlantic Coast often exceeds this upper limit and, therefore, if crabs are to be held alive in sea water, refrigeration is essential. Aeration with forced circulation of water is necessary and the oxygen content must be maintained at 50% saturation or higher.

(c) Live crabs can be held on ice for 48 hrs or in refrigerated moist air (34-35°F) for 24 hrs with 10% mortality.

(d) Cooked, brine-frozen and glazed sections can be lield for 10 days at —10 to —15°F storage without detectable loss in quality.

(0) Holding of frozen crabs or uncooked frozen sections in cold storage is not satisfactory, since this results in lower yield and more difficult shucking.

(f) Storage of 'either raw or cooked sections on ice results in black discolouration of the meat and a decrease in meat quality. Therefore this practice should be discouraged.

1. Butchering and Precooking

2.1 Butchering

Dead crabs are to be culled prior to processing. The live crabs should be transferred to the butchering table without physical injury. Muddy or otherwise unclean crabs should be rinsed with clean water. The crabs are butchered by grasping the legs on each side and striking along the belly centre line against a knife-like metal object. (Photo No. 1). This removes the carapace and severs the crab into two half sections. The sections are then tapped against a solid object to remove viscera clinging to the body meat. This operation is important to prevent the dis-colouration of shotildtt meat by liver fluids.

2.2 Degilling

The gills, mandibles and excess cartilage (Photo No. 2) are removed by a knife or by a rotating wire brush (Photo No. 3); remaining viscera can be removed with a rotating nylon brush. A sharp tap of the section over a solid object will jar out viscera clinging to otherwise unaccessible cavities in the body section. Refuse should be collected and disposed of in a sanitary manner.

2.3 Washing

The sections must be well washed with water spray under adequate pressure, preferably in a rotary washer to prevent discolouration by viscera fluids.

2.4 Precooking

Crabs must be precooked before the meat can be removed from the shell. Laboratory studies show that:

(a) The optimum precook time is seven (7) minutes in boiling fresh water. Less than six (6) minutes results in under cooking and more than seven (7) minutes makes the meat increasingly difficult to shuck.

(b) Cooking time is measured from the point when the water begins to boil in the cooking vat after the crabs are added.

(c) Cooking in live steam is not recommended since this results in difficult shucking, lower yield and poor appearance of the meat due to meat sticking to the shell.

(d) During cooking it is important that the boiling water be circulated to ensure uniform heating. In the case of batch.. cooking, this can be achieved by raising and lowering the basket two or three times at the start of the cooking operation.

(e) Fractional cooking is recommended when crab sections are to be heat processed for canning. This is to prevent blue dis-colouration in the finished products, caused by the chemical reaction between copper in the blood and constituents of the meat. With fractional cooking, the blood can be removed from the meat and thereby prevent the development of blue dis-

*4‘lrir. • '4

. ,„ • • -11

. „. *,•••^.-7, • 7g41.,

No. 1

No. 2

CM. Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Dewar - 85 -

177

et•It'-'cr,7., •

178

— 86 —

ATLANTIC CRAB HSI F RV D EVELOPM ENT

No. 3

colouration. By controlling the time and temperature of precooking the sections, the meat can be made firm enough for shucking while the • blood still remains liquid. The blood can then be removed by rinsing the shucked meat in flowing water. The initial cooking of the sections for separating the blood from the meat should be for ten minutes at 140-150°F. The shucked meat is then cooked in boiling water for an additional two to three minutes to complete the precooking operation.

2.5 Cooling

(a) For batch operations cooked sections should be immediately immersed in running water to cool the meat to approximately 50°F for ease of shucking, to be followed by washing in a rotary type washer to remove any coagulated blood and protein on the surface of the shoulder meat.

(b) When the sections are cooked in a continuous type cooker, cooling and washing can be combined in a rotary type washer.

(c) In the case of fractional cooking precookeld sections should be similarly cooled for eaSe of shucking.

Meat Extraction

To date no satisfactory equipment has beep developed for mechanically removing the meat from the shell. The following shucking procedure is recommended for the different appendages as shown in Fig. 1.

(a) Leg tips and claws are separated from the sections as shown in photos # 4 and # 5.

(b) Meat is removed from the leg knuckles by hittin the legs against the rim of the shucking pa_ (photo # 6).

(c) The empty knuckle shell, together with the tendons, is removed from the legs as shown in (photo # 7).

(d) Body meat is separated by first loosening the shoulder meat by pressing against a solid objeCt with the palm of the hand (tapping or striking with a hammer results in a splattering of the meat and is not recommended), followed by knocking the body shell against the rim of the shucking pan (photo # 8).

CM. Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Dewar — 87 — 179

Figure. 1 ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB

(Chionoecetes Opilio)

1 11

10

9

7

2

3

4

5

E

C

D

A

B

C

D

1. 1st claw

2. 1st leg

3. 2nd leg 4. 3rd leg 5. 4th leg

6. Carapace

LEGEND

7. 5th leg 8. 6 th leg

9. 7 th leg

10. 8 th leg

11. 2 nd claw (pincer)

A. Claw B. Knuckle

C. First leg

D. Shoulder

E.2nd leg(tip)

,r7miermow7

L • • %*-

No. 6 No. 10

ISO - 88 - ATLANTIC CRAB 1:1SIIERY DEVELOPMFNT

No. 4 No. 8

No. 5

No. 9

No. 7

CM Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Der - 89 - 181

No. 12 No. 13

(e) Leg meat is removed by cracking the ends of the leg shell with a plastic mallet on a hard plastic anvil and jarring the meat out on the rim of the shucking pan (photos *9 and *10).

(f) Meat is removed from the leg tips by rollers (photo *11).

(g) Claw meat is extracted by first removing the pincer claw (photo # 12), followed by cracking the claw using the plastic mallet and anvil and jarring the meat out on the rim of the shucking pan (photo # 13).

Since meat extraction requires tapping and jarring of the shell, solid, vibration-free tables are necessary for the shucking operation.

4. Shell and Cartilage Removal

Pieces of shell and cartilage should be removed from the shucked meat with the aid of ultra violet (U.V.) light (black light) in a darkened room. Meat may be passed under U.V. light using belt conveyors. Pieces of shell and cartilage can be readily seen and then removed by hand. Eyes of the workers need to -be protected against the U.V. light by the aid of glasses or a protective glass shield. Adequate venti lation is also required to remove ozone formed in the air, which may cause eye irritation.

Brine flotation to separate shell and cartilage from the. shucked meat is not recommended, since salt pick-up is difficult to control. Soaking in fresh water after brine flotation does not give a uniform salt content and adversely affects flavour of the final product.

S. Washing

After removing pieces of shell and cartilage, it is important that the shucked meat be washed in running water or under a spray to remove blood adhering to the surface. This is particularly important for the -heat -processed product to prevent blue discolouration.

6. Brining

Meat to be packaged in cardboard containers for freezing should be dipped in a brine solution to enhance the flavour. The optimum salt pick-up can be obtained by dipping the leg meat for one minute and the fine meat for three-quarters of a minute in a 7.9% (30% salinometer) brine solution. The brine solution should be added directly when meat is frozen in cans. Add one-sixth of an ounce of pickle containing 4-5% salt to each ounce of meat.

7. Draining

Prior to packaging, the meat should be drained adequately to eliminate excess surface water.

8. Packaging for Frec:ing

(a) Leg meat is packed in the bottom and top layers of the container with the pigmented surface outward to improve appearance. Broken meat is packed in the center and mixing of brightly pigmented meat from the leg tips with body meat is recommended to improve the appearance.

(b) A liner is recommended with waxed eardboard containers to minimize dehydration of the frozen. product during storage.

182 — 90 — ATLANTIC CRAB FISHERY DEVELOPMFN

(c) An acid dip fur the froNn product is not required and should not be used since it adversely affects product flavour, texture and drained weight.

9. Freezing and Storage

(a) The packaged product is to he placed in the freezer as soon as possible after packaging. In no case should the delay be more than one-half hour; this is to prevent the multiplication of undesirable bacteria. Meat must be quick frozen, preferably in a contact plate freezer to minimize deleterious effects of freezing upon the texture of the product.

(b) The frozen meat is to be stored at —15°F to minimize quality deterioration during storage and thus provide a reasonable shelf life.

10. Canning

10.1 Cans

(a) Smut—The occurrence of "smut" (iron sulfide blackening) is a problem with heat processed canned crab meat and may be avoided by using aluminum cans. Enamel in the more commonly used electrolytic tin plate cans will reduce the incidence of smut formation. Recommendations as to can tin coating and enamel should be obtained from suppliers and manufacturers.

(b) Empty cans are to be protected from dampness and kept clean during storage. Prior to filling, the cans should be spray washed with hot water to remove any dust or foreign material. The use of a liner in the can is recommended.

10.2 Filling

(a) Arrangement—the meat is arranged in the can as described for the frozen pack.

(b) Pickle—add 1/6 oz. (4.7 ml.) of pickle containing 4-5% high grade dairy salt to each ounce of meat to enchance flavour.

(c) Struvite—the occurrence of struvite (MgNa4P046H20) can be a problem with heat processed crab meat. This can be avoided by adding citric acid in the ratio of

0.1% of the total weight of the can contents. Citric acid is added in the pickle and increases the solubility of struvite and thereby prevents its crystallization. The occurrence of struvite is _minimized by increasing the volume of the pickle. Since magnesium is a limiting factor in struvite formation, sea water which - contains magnesium should not be used in the processing operation. •

10.3 Closing

(a) Cans should be closed with an automatic vacuum sealing machine under a vacuum of 20-25 inches of mercury.

(b) Can seams should be checked frequently during the day's operation to ensure proper seaming.

10.4 Can Washing

Closed cans are to be washed prior to retorting, preferably with a detergent spray followed by a fresh water rinse. Retorts are to be kept clean.

10.5 Retorting

(a) After sealing, the can should be retorted as soon as possible. Any delay should not exceed one-half to one hour to prevent souring, off-flavour and loss of vacuum: If longer times are required to obtain enough cans to fill a retort, processing of partial retort loads should be practiced.

(b) The quality of the meat is adversely affected by excessive retorting. The optimum retorting temperature is 230°F and the recommended time-temperature relationship for different size cans is shown in Table I.

10.6 Cooling

After processing, cans should be cooled promptly with water to a temperature of 100-105°F to avoid rusting or the growth of thermophilic bacteria. Water cooling under air pressure in the retort is the most efficient

TABLE I

Recommended Minimum and Maximum Processing for Canned Queen Crab Meat

Type of Container (with liner)

Fill-in Weight (oz.)

Mean Initial Temperature

CIF)

Processing Temperature

(°F)

Processi g Time (Minutes)

Minimum Maximum

1/4 lb. flat (tin)

(300 x 108.5) 3.0 65 230 70 100

1/2 lb. flat (tin)

(307 x 200) 7.0 t• I, 90 125

1/2 lb. flat (Aluminum)

(307 x 111.5) 5.75 ti -et -- - -

. _ 75 110

1 lb. flat (tin)

(404 x 206) 14.0 IS II 105 145

TABLE II: Quality Grades of Queen Crab Meat

GRADES COLOUR ODOUR FLAVOUR TEXTURE

GRADE I (Top Quality) Leg Meat: Bright red. Fine Meat: Glistening, Gleaming white.

Pleasant, strongly characteristic.

Pleasant, slightly characteristic.

Firm, elastic.

GRADE II (Medium Quality)

Leg Meat: Red. Fine Meat: White, loss of sheen.

Neutral, no definite odour.

Tasteless, neutral.

Firm, elastic.

GRADE ill (Reject) Leg Meat: Dull red. Fine Meat: Greyish, yellow discoloration.

Stale, slight sour, strong turnipy, slight ammonia.

Stale, slight sour, turnipy, bitter aftertaste.

Soft, mushy, slippery, shredded.

184 — 92 — Al L.:1NTIC. CRAB I' ltillERY.DEV r

method. Water used for cooling should be of potable quality.

10.7 Storage

Heat processed crab meat should be stored in a dry, cool area for minimum loss of quality. Optimum storage temperature is between 35-50°F.

10.8 Quality Grades

The quality of extracted meat prior to freezing or heat processing has been defined by quality grades, as shown in Table H.

B. SANITARY PROGRAM FOR CRAB MEAT PLANTS

1. Surroundings of Packing Plant.

2. Water Supply.

3. Construction of buildings and equipment from the sanitation point of view.

4. Personnel hygiene.

5. Plant cleanup at the end of processing.

6. Sanitation during processing.

The performance of a plant sanitary program is reflected in the end-of-line bacteria counts. Counts exceeding the bacteriological standards indicate inadequate plant sanitation. Since crab meat is considered to be a cooked product ready to be served as food without further preparation, Public Health Authorities are very particular about the numbers and types of bacteria present in the product. Absence of S. aureus, a food poisoning bacteria, is required. This bacteria normally occurs in the nasal cavities as well as on the skin of humans but in very large numbers in boils and infected cuts. Presence of another group of organisms called faecal coliforms normally occurring in the intestinal content of warm blooded animals and on the surface of some insects is also unacceptable in crab meat.

Public health authorities consider the presence of these organisms in food to represent a health hazard to consumers. Their presence implies poor hygiene on the part of food handlers as well as the possible presence of objectionable insects or animals in the food handling area. The difficulties of preventing the entrance of the above

bacteria in the product are compounded by their ability to multiply quickly in the meat or on the handling surfaces.

The compliance with bacteriological standards for crab meat is indeed difficult. It requires the application Of the most stringent hygienic practices available to date fOr food processing operation.

Crab meat processed under the following sanitary program should comply with all requirements for whole-someness.

1. Surrounding Area of the Packing Plant

(a) The surrounding area of crab meat processing plants is to be free of debris, offal and other food material which serves as nourishment for insects and rodents. Hiding and breeding places must be identified and destroyed.

(b) Continuous effort is required to eradicate undesirable insects and rodents appearing on the premises.

(c) Offal bins and surrounding areas should be cleaned daily and treated with insecticide. A compound called "Pyrethrum and Piperornyl Butoxide" is recommended for use as an insecticide. It kills insects on contact and has a low toxicity for humans.

(d) Extreme care must be exercised with the use of rodent poisons to prevent their introduction into the processed crab meat.

(e) Windows, doors and other openings in the plant are to be screened to present a physical barrier to the entrance of these animals into the plant area. Doors are to be self-closing and drains provided with rodent barriers.

2. Water Supply

(a) Water for the processing of crab meat must be from an approved source and meet the bacterio-logical requirements of less than 2 coliforma in 100 ml. of water.

(b) Chlorination of water supply is recommended to a residual of 5 ppm available chlorine even if the source is unpolluted. This chlorination is an added insurance against the possibility of in-frequent pollution, especially in the water lines inside the packing area.

CM. Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Dewar - 93

185

(c) Water used for the manufacturing of ice must meet the bacteriological standard indicated above.

3. Construction of Building and Equipment Requirement

(a) Buildings and equipment should be so designed to facilitate easy cleaning.

(b) Surface of floors shall be sloped for draining purposes and constructed of concrete or other approved material.

(c) Drains shall be adequate size, suitable type, and where connected directly to a sewer, equipped with traps.

(d) Inside surfaces of walls shall be constructed of smooth, waterproof, light coloured material that can be thoroughly washed up to a height of not less than 4 feet.

(e) Ceilings in working areas shall be free from cracks, crevices and open joints and constructed of smooth, washable, light coloured material.

(f) There shall be no exposed pipes over working surfaces on which crab meat is prepared or packed.

(g) Adequate ventilation shall be provided in working rooms to prevent vapor condensation and to lower the air temperature in the packing area as

. required.

(h) A minimum illumination of twenty-foot candles shall be provided on all working surfaces in the processing area.

(i) Equipment is to be manufactured from approved material designed to enable quick dismantling and sanitizing.

4. Personnel Hygiene

The success of the plant's sanitary program neces-sarily depends to a large extent on the personal hygiene of employees. Food handlers are the primary source of Sta-phylococci and coliforms; thus the importance of personnel as a source of these undesirable bacteria cannot be overemphasized.

(a) No person who

(1) is known to be suffering from any communicable disease;

(2) is a known "carrici- of any diNease: or

(3) has an infected wound or open lesion on any portion of his body shall be employed in a working area of a cannery.

• • (b) Every person engaged.in-processing of crab meat

shall wash his hands thoroughly with warm water and liquid or powdered soap followed by dipping in an approved disinfectant solution at the beginning of the day's operation and after each absence from duty. Hands should be dried with disposable paper towels.

(c) Rubber or plastic gloves shall be worn by employees in the processing area and shall be disinfected at each break during the work shift.

(d) All employees engaged in processing operation shall wear clean overalls, smocks, or coats, and head gear of an approved type. Protective outer garments such as waterproof aprons, coats and pants shall be properly cleaned after each work shift. Employees should ensure that sleeves or other parts of their clothing shall not come in contact with the meat.

(e) No person shall smoke or spit in a working area.

(f) Personnel should be conscious of own personal habits; hands must be kept away from nose, mouth and hair.

(g) Care should be exercised to avoid overcrowding of working areas. It is impossible to maintain satisfactory plant sanitation in areas that are overcrowded by employees.

(h) Adequate toilet and hand washing, as well as disinfecting, facilities shall be provided. Hand washing and disinfecting practices should be closely- supervised after lunch, coffee breaks and visits to washrooms.

S. Plant (.7eanup at the end of processing

Plant surfaces directly or indirectly in contact with meat becomes contaminated with meat or tissue fluids as well as with bacteria during the daily operation. The purpose of the general plant cleanup is to remove the soil from the working surfaces and kill the remaining bacteria with disinfecting solution. Elimination of micro-organisms from Working surfaces is crucial in keeping the end-aline bacteria count low the following day. Post packing cleanup

186 — 94 — AIL ANL IC' CRAB FISHERY DEVELOPMEN r

is made up of two parts: In Part A the soil is removed from the surfaces while in Part B disinfection is carried out.

PART A

(a) Tables, utensils, tanks and other equipment shall be:

(1) washed with water to remove loose soil;

(2) brushed with a detergent in warm water;

(3) rinsed with clean water to remove detergent.

(b) Empty shell bins, refuse receptacles, shall be rinsed with water and disinfected.

(c) Floors and walls in the working areas shall be thoroughly washed.

PART B

(a) Prepare disinfectant solution with effective use dilution determined for S. aureus and E. coli. Effectiveness of use dilution should be determined by the A.O.A.C. "ring test" against the above named organism. The use of 75-100 ppm iodine solution is recommended.

(b) Apply the disinfectant solution to the cleaned surfaces, such as equipment, utensils, tables, walls, for 10-15 minutes then rinse with clean water. PartiCular emphasis should be placed on the cleaning and disinfection of toilet doors, handles, taps, doorknobs, paper towel holders.

More detailed explanation of compliance with construction, equipment and operating requirements for crab meat plants is given in the "Handbook of Compliance", Canned Fish and Shellfish Inspection Regulations, which is available from the Inspection Service, Department of Fisheries, Canada.

6. Sanitation during Processing

(a) At the start of the daily processing operations all equipment, utensils, etc., shall be rinsed with clean water.

(b) Tables, mallets and anvils, etc., should be rinsed as frequently as practicable (at least at hourly intervals) with dean running water.

(c) All utensils shall be rinsed after each usage in clean running water and shall be cleaned and. disinfected at least once during and at the end of each work shift.

(d) Belts and rollers for extracting meat shalt be rinsed with constant water spray while operatng.

(e) Flow of crab meat along the processing line should be as fast as possible; pile-ups of crab meat should be especially avoided since this results inevitably in higher bacterial counts.

(f) Washing of crab meat or utensils in tanks where the same solution is repeatedly used should be avoided since this is often a serious source of bacterial contamination. Similarly the use of sponges and towels to wipe table surfaces during processing operations should be prohibited.

STORAGE MEAT EXTRACTION COOLING & WASHING

WASHING THAWING MEAT EXTRACTION

LIVE CRABS

BUTCHERING

DEGILLING

FRACTIONAL COOKINt WASHING SECTIONS

BRINE

FREEZING SECTIONS

SHE LL &

CARTILAGE REMOVAL

WASHING MEAT .

FOR CANNING

DRAINING

FILLING

ADD PICKLE

& CITRIC ACID

SEALING

CAN WASHING

RETORTING

COOLING

FOR FREEZING

BRINING

DRAINING

PACKAGING

FREEZING

STORAGE

PRECOOKING COOLING SECTIONS

RECOO KING

CM. Blackwood, S. Varga, A.B. Dewar - 95 -

187

FLOW DIAGRAM FOR PROCESSING QUEEN CRAB

STORAGE

- 96 -

B. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INVESTIGATIONS FOR

ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB (CHIONOECTES OPILIO)

P.J. Ke, B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar (1981)

Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 1002

- 97 -

Fisheries and Marine Service

Technical Report

No. 1002

AUGUST 1981

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INVESTIGATIONS FOR ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB (CHIONOECETES OPILIO)

A. Observations on Handling and Holding operations.

B. Post-mortem deterioration, Discoloration and Time/Temperature effects.

C. Objective methods for Quality Grading.

D. Review and summary of various Technical Information.

BY

P.J. Ke, B. Smith-Lall and A.B. Dewar

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Maritime Region, Field Services Branch

Regional Inspection & Technical Laboratory 1721 Lower Water Street P.O. Box 550, Halifax Nova Scotia B3J 2S7

CANADA

- 99 - ABSTRACT

Ke, P.J., B. Smith-Lall, and A.B. Dewar. 1981. Quality Improvement Investigations for Queen Crab (Chionoecetes opilio). Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 1002:

Quality enhancement studies for Atlantic Queen Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) fishery have been comprehensively carried out in terms of handling, grading, and of various related operations and technical improvements. This publication contains four independent reports: (A) Preliminary observations on handling and holding operations for Atlantic queen crab prior to processing; (B) Quality assurance investigations on Atlantic queen crab, in terms of post-mortem biochemical deterioration, discoloration, and time/temperature effects; (C) Objective scientific methods for assessing freshness and quality of queen crab; and (D) Review and summary of various technical information concerning Atlantic queen crab and related crab species. Reports A, B, and C, including experimental results and technical discussions, are the original work of this laboratory. Report D is a comprehensive literature review, but some selected papers have been completely summarized in the attached appendices. In conclusion, it is aimed that this publication should provide up-to-date information on the Atlantic queen crab fishery in order to improve the overall quality and operations.

A. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON HANDLING AND HOLDING OPERATIONS FOR ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB

PRIOR TO PROCESSING

SUMMARY

For Atlantic queen crab landed in 1980, a preliminary investigation has been made with 4 sample lots, measuring the incidence of mortality and injuries (Table 1). The percentage of mortality and injury are between 12% to 58% and 12% to 20%, respectively. Crabs injured to varying degrees were held in chilled moist air for 6 days. The results of this test and field observation, both showed that no more than 5% can survive the loss of 2 legs. A 50% survival rate was observed for the crabs that had lost 1 leg or had been dropped 1 m. (Table 2). A holding experiment employing the refrigerated sea water (RSW), chilled moist air (CMA) and direct icing was carried out and assessed by measuring the mortality rate of the specimen crabs. The RSW and CMA were shown to be the most suitable methods for holding queen crab up to 6 days with less than 25% mortality (Table 3). The direct icing method may be used satisfactorily for short periods of up to 3 days in total, prior to processing. Since this study was conducted without a systematic plan, and the sample size was very limited, no conclusions or recommendations can be made without some further, more statistically significant results.

TABLE 1. Preliminary observations of the landed quality of queen crab in 1980.

Samples %, L (Live) %, D (Dead) % of total crab, L+D (D)

-1 leg -2 legs broken shell

soft shell

A (June/80, 3-day fishing trip, unloaded, dockside, 1 NE-NB, 120 crabs)

75 25 9 (5) 3 (2) 1 (1) 0 (0)

B (June/80, fishing trip, duration unknown, trucked

46 54 12 (7) 3 (3) 2 (2) 1 (1)

6-8 hrs, in plant 2E-NB, 161 crabs)

C (August/80, 1-day fishing trip, unloaded, dockside

88 12 7 (4) 2 (2) 0 (0) 2 (2)

3BSL, 115 crabs)

D (Sept./80, fishing 42 58 12 (8) 5 (3) 3 (3) 4 (4) trip, duration unknown, unloaded, dockside, 4N-NB, 74 crabs)

1. North-east New Brunswick 2. East New Brunswick 3. Baie St. Lawrence 4. North New Brunswick

TABLE 2. Comparison of the mortality rates of queen crab subjected to varying degrees of injury.

Holding Method (CMA)

Mortality % (accumulated)

3 days 6 days

Control* (uninjured)

10 16

Less 1 leg** 20 55

Less 2 legs** 50 95

Dropped** 30 45 (1 m high)

* 50 crabs were used as the control. ** 20 crabs were used for the tests, respectively.

TABLE 3. Incidence of queen crab mortality held by various techniques.

Holding method Mortality % (accumulated)

3 days 6 days 10 days

ICE (direct contact, about 2°C)

26 84 100

RSW (aeration 6-8°C closed circulation)

8 14 22

CMA (chilled and moist air, 5°C)

16 26 48

Control Seawater Holding 10 12 16*

Tank (flow filtered seawater, 8-10°C, aeration)

* About 40% mortality rate has been recorded for the crabs held in our laboratory seawater tank for 2 months with daily feeding.

- 104 -

B. QUALITY ASSURANCE INVESTIGATIONS ON ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB (CHIONOECETES OPT ILIA) IN

TERMS OF POST MORTEM BIOCHEMICAL DETERIORATION DISCOLORATION AND TIME/TEMPERATURE EFFECT

SUMMARY

By applying 6 biochemical quality indicators (Fig. 1) and a 10-point discoloration scoring system (Table 1), the compre-hensive post-mortem quality deterioration of Atlantic queen crab has been investigated. Both biochemical and enzymatic changes in body meat samples are non-linear as a function of holding time at 3, 13 and 23°C. All quality changes in the post-mortem .period are temperature dependent. Therefore, the crab meat quality can be preserved by using various chilling operations.

A time/temperature relationship on post-mortem quality of queen crab has been described (Section V Table 2) and tested in the laboratory. In order to keep the crab meat at an "acceptable" quality level for about 30 hours prior to processing, the round crab must be held at 3°C or lower.

- 105

SECTION B

FIGURE 1. The post-mortem changes of various quality indicators in queen crab kept at 3 ( ). 13 (....) and 23°C (----).

Trimethylamine (mg-N/100g)

Total Volatile Bases

TIBIA. Value %Extractable Protein, (mg-N/100 gm)

(Arno! malonaldehyde/kg) (mg protein-N/100gm)

T all

t1DI3 - S

i M

011

.0aS

Free Fatty Acids (Amo1/10g)

".:11 C 0 0 0

pH

- 107 -

SECTION

TABLE 1: Discoloration in queen crab meat at various quality and keeping conditions.

Sample/quality/conditions

Discoloration point*

0 2 2 4 6 hour.

Excellent quality whole 10 10 10. 10 10 10 at 3°C sections 10 10 9 8 6 2

body meat 10 10 10 9 8 5 guts . 10 10 8 6 2 -

Good quality whole 10 10 10 9 8 4 at 3°C sections 10 10 9 7 4 2

body meat 10 10 10 9 7 4 guts 10 9 7 4 2 MEP

Borderline whole 10 9 9 8 quality sections 9 7 5 1 - at 3°C body meat 10 10 8 5 3 MOD

guts 9 6 2 - -

* The 10-points scoring system is used to assess the development of blue discoloration; 10, no discoloration present; 9, slight trace of discoloration or evidence of graying of blood; 8, reasonably free of black discoloration; 7, black discoloration in one location; 6, slight black discoloration throughout the whole sample; 5, moderate discoloration through the whole sample; 4, excessive discoloration; 3-0, discoloration black (Varga, S., A.B. Dewar, and W.E. Anderson, 1969. Effect of citric acid on quality of heat processed crab. Dept. Fisheries & Oceans, In Proceedings for Meeting on Atlantic Crab Fishery Development, Can. Fish. Report No. 13: 169-174).

- 108 -

C. OBJECTIVE SCIENTIFIC METHODS FOR ASSESSING FRESHNESS AND QUALITY OF QUEEN CRAB

(CHIONOECETES OPILIO)

SUMMARY

We would recommend the use of a scientific grading system by employing two chemical methods such as FFA and EPN which can be correlated with the result of the sensory analyses. The recommended procedures have been tested satisfactorily in our laboratory, and can be applied to assess the quality of crabmeat. The described techniques would alleviate the need for time-consuming organoleptic testing which is not always objective. A more extensive study is required to refine and simplify these methods so they can be used on a routine basis in the assessment of crab quality.

- 109 -

(D) REVIEW AND SUMMARY OF VARIOUS TECHNICAL INFORMATION CONCERNING ATLANTIC QUEEN CRAB

AND RELATED CRAB SPECIES

The production of Queen crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in Canada has increased greatly since the early 1960's. This species has a worldwide distribution and there is considerable information available on the preservation and processing of queen crab which is also known as snow crab. The main purpose of this report is to compile the recent literature from technical and scientific sources on the quality preservation of Atlantic queen crab, and other crab species native to North America.

Technical publications dealing specifically with aspects of the quality preservation and processing techniques for Atlantic crab fishery have been selected and listed alphabetically in Appendix 1. Appendix lA includes references dealing with Atlantic Queen Crab and Appendix 1B includes other crab species. References were obtained from Food Science and Technology Abstracts, Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, government publications from Canada, United States, Japan and Great Britain, as well as proceedings of workshops and technological conferences.

110

APPENDIX 1A

Addison, R.F., R.G. Ackman and J. Hingley 1972. Lipid composition of the queen crab (Chionoecetes opilio). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 29: 407-411.

Anonymous. 1974. Snow crab (Chinoecetes species). U.S. Dept. of Comm. N.O.A.A. Nat. Mar. Fish. Serv., Cons. Educ. Serv. Food Fish Facts No. 38: 2 p.

*Anderson, W.E., and S. Varga. 1973. Mortality rate of Queen crab after landing at dockside and incidence of dead crabs at the butchering tables in the 1973 season. Dept. of Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection and Technology Lab., unpublished: 3 p.

Boon, D.D. 1975. Discoloration in processed crabmeat. A review. J. Food Sci. 40: 756-761.

Branch, J. 1973. Rock and queen crab project 1973. In Crab Industry, North Eastern New Brunswick, Dept. Fish & Environ., New Brunswick: 104 p.

Burnett, J.L. 1965. Ammonia as an index of of decomposition in crabmeat. J. Assoc. Off. Chem. 48: 624-627.

Dassow, J.A. 1968. Characteristics of frozen shellfish: Factors affecting quality changes during freezing and storage. Part 1. Crabs and lobsters. In "The Freezing Preservation of Foods" edited by D.J. Tressler, N.B. Van Arsdel, and N.J. Copley, Avi Pub. Co., Ch. 9, 197-208.

*Dewar, A.B. 1980. Effects of post-mortem spoilage on the quality of processed snow (queen) crab - A critical look at crab meat processing - Some do's and don't's. Presented in the meeting on Quality Improvement in the crab industry - An Update, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, April 8-9, 1980.

*Dewar, A.B., W.E. Anderson and S. Varga. 1972. The shelf life of canned queen crab meat. Dept. of Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection and Technology Lab., Halifax, Technical Report No. 13: 22 p.

Dewar, A.B., E.B. Guptill and S. Varga. 1972. The effect of copper and iron in cannery water supplies on discoloration in canned crab meat. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab, Halifax, Technical Report Series No. MAR/T-74-1: 6 p.

*Dewar, A.B., S. Varga and W.E. Anderson. 1969. Effect of post-mortem spoilage on the quality of processed queen crab. Dept. of Fish. & Oceans, Proceedings of Atlantic Crab Fishery Development Meeting, Can. Aquat. Fish. Report No. 13: 261-272.

Donaldson, W.E. and D.M. Hicks. 1978. A biblio-graphy of selected references of the tanner crab genus Chionoecetes. Alaska Dept. Fish and Game, Information Leaflet No. 174: 24 p.

Edwards, E. and J.C. Early. 1967. Catching, handling and processing crabs. Torry Research Station, (U.K.), Torry Advisory Note No. 26 (revised): 17 p.

Giddings, G.G. and L.H. Hill. 1976. A research note. A scanning electron microscopy study of effects of processing on crustacean muscle. J. Food Sci. 41: 455-457.

Giddings, G.G. and L.H. Hill. 1978. Relation-ship of freezing preservation parameters to texture-related structural damage to thermally processed crustacean muscle. J. Food Processing and Preservation 2: 249-264.

Gillies, M.T. 1975. Fish and shellfish processing. Food Tech. Rev. No. 22, Noyes Data Corp., Park Ridge, N.J.: 338 p.

Hann, S.A. 1976. Snow crab handling and process-ing. Interim textbook. College of Fisheries, Navigation Marine Engineering & Electronics, Parade Street, St. John's, Nfld. Unpublished: 24 p. '

Hayashi, T., K. Yamaguchi and S. Konosu. 1981. Sensory analysis of taste-active components', in the extract of boiled snowcrab meat. J. Food Sci. 46: 479-483; 496.

Hayashi, T., K. Yamaguchi and S. Konosu. 1978. Studies on flavour components in boiled crabs. II. Nucleotides and organic bases in the extracts. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 44: 1357-1362.

Hayashi, T., A. Asakawa, K. Yamaguchi and S. Konosu. 1979. Studies on flavour components in boiled crabs. III. Sugars, organic acids, and minerals in the extracts. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 45: 1325-1329.

Ichisugi, T. and K. Inokawa. 1969. Low tempera - ature storage of marine products. Qualities of stored crab (Kengani). J. Hokkaido Fish. Sci. Institution 26 (9): 933-943.

Konosu, S., K. Yamaguchi and T. Hayashi. 1978. Studies on flavour components in boiled crabs. I. Amino acids and related compounds in the extracts. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish 44: 505-510.

Krzeczkowski, R.A. and F.E. Stone. 1974. Amino acid, fatty acid and proximate composition of snow crab (Chionoectes bairdi). J. Food Sci. 39: 386-388.

Lauer, B.H., M.C. Murray, W.E. Anderson and E.B. Guptill. 1974. Atlantic queen crab (Chionoecetes

opilio), Jonah crab (Cancer borealis), and red crab (Geryon quinquedens). Proximate com-

111

APPENDIX 1A (Cont'd)

position of crabmeat from edible tissues and concentrations of some major mineral constituents in the ash. J. Food Sci. 39: 383-385.

Mack, G.E., S. Varga and A.B. Dewar. 1969. An investigation of methods of holding queen crab (C. opilio) prior to processing. Dept. Fish & Oceans, Proceedings Atlantic Crab Fishery Development Meeting, Can. Fish. Report No. 13: 249-259.

McAllister, H. 1967. Processing and handling of Atlantic Queen crab. N.S. Dept. Fish. Report: 14 p.

McLeese, D.W. 1968. Temperature resistance of the spider crab (Chionoecetes opilio). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 25: 1733-1736.

McLeese, D.W. and J. Watson. 1968. Oxygen consumption of the spider crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and the American lobster (Homarus americanus) at a low temperature. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 25: 1729-1732.

Miyagawa, M., S. Nakamoto, K. Yamane, A. Shinpo, S. Uezu, M. Yahikozawa, H. Kuramochi and M. Umezu. 1979. Studies on organic constituents

of the snow crab (Chinonoecetes opilio). II. Free amino acids in extracts. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 45: 115-120.

Motohiro, T., T. Numakura and Z. Iseya. 1972. Cause of the "dead colour" discoloration in the meat of canned crab (Chionoecetes opilio elonaatus). Canner's Journal (Japan) 51: 251-255.

Sasano, Y. and F. Hirata. 1973. Studies on freezing storage of tanner crabs: Relation between the quality of meat and the nucleotide content. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 39: 951-954.

Simpson, S. 1968. The processing of Queen crab -frozen and canned. Dept. Fish. Oceans, Industrial Development Division, Ottawa, Interim Report: 33 p.

Simpson, S. 1969. The preservation and handlingof crab onboard vessels. Dept. Fish & Oceans, Proceedings for Atlantic Crab Fishery Development Meeting, Can. Fish. Report No. 13: 191-215.

Simpson, S.L. and J. Simpson. 1967. Interim report - Atlantic Queen crab. Newfoundland, Dept. Fish & Oceans, Industrial Development Services, Project Report 19: 14 p.

*Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1969. Effect of citric acid on quality of heat processed crab meat. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Proceedings for Atlantic Crab Fishery

Development Meeting, Can. Fish. Report No. 13: 169-174.

*Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1971. Prevention of struvite in canned queen crab by hexametaphosphate. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab., Halifax, Technical Report No. 8: 3 p.

*Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1972. Changes in the quality and yield of brine -frozen cooked crab sections during cold storage. Dept. Fish & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab., Halifax, Technical Report No. 15: 4 p.

*Varga, S., G.G. aims and W.E. Anderson. 1972. Effects of sodium polyphosphate (Na5P3O10) on the thaw drip and the quality of frozen queen crab meat. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection and Technology Lab., Halifax, Technical Report No. 11: 5 p.

*Varga, S., W.E. Anderson, A.B. Dewar and V. Marryatt, 1972. Pasteurization and shelf life of

pasteurized queen crab meat. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab., Halifax, Technical Report No. 14: 3 p.

*Varga, S., J.B. Myrick, T. Hache and M. Chiasson. 1971. Report on a survey devised to

to study the mortality rates of queen crab landed in Shippegan, N.B. in 1971. Dept. of Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab., Halifax, Unpublished.

Ward, D.R., M.D. Pierson and K.R. Van Tassell. 1977. The microflora of unpasteurized crabmeat

and pasteurized crabmeat. J. Food Sci. 42: 597-600, 614.

Watson, J. and S.L. Simpson. 1968. The queencrab industry in the Atlantic provinces.. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Industrial Development Branch Report: 48 p.

APPENDIX 1B

Ampola, V.G. and R.J. Learson. 1973. A new approach to the freezing preservation of blue crab. Proc. Int. Congress Refrigeration (13th) 3: 243-248.

Anonymous. 1964. Effects of certain pyro phosphates on moisture retention in cannedking crab. Comm. Fish. Review 26 (8): 19 p.

Babbit, J.K., D.K. Law and D.L. Crawford. 1973. A research note. Phenolases and blye discoloration in whole cooked Dungeness crab (Cancer magister). J. Food Sci. 38: 1089-1090.

Babbit, J.K., D.K. Law and D.L. Crawford. 1973. Blueing discOloration in canned crab meat (Cancer magister). J. Food Sci. 38: 110-1103.

112

APPENDIX 1B (Coned)

Babbit, J.K., D.K. Law and D.L. Crawford. 1975. A research note. Effect of precooking on copper content, phenolic content and blueing of canned Dungeness crab meat. J. Food Sci. 40: 649-650.

Barnett, H. and R.W. Nelson. 1966. Recent technological studies of Dungeness crab processing. Part 4 - Preliminary report on salt uptake and heat penetration in whole-cooked crab. U.S. Dept. Int., Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish. Indus. Res. 3(3): 13-16.

Barnett, H.J., R.W. Nelson and P.J. Hunter. 1969. Shipping live Dungeness crabs by air to

retail market. Comm. Fish. Review, 31(5): 21-24.

Burnette, F.S. and G.J. Flick, Jr. 1977. Comparison of three assays for peroxidase in the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) J. Food Protection 40: 854-856.

Burnette, F.S. and G.J. Flick, Jr. 1978. Activity and resistance to thermal in-activation of peroxidase in the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). J. Food Sci. 43: 31-34.

Callahan, C.A., S.L. Biede and J.E. Rutledge. 1978. Flavor losses in mechanically - picked

crab meats. From: Proceedings of the Third Annual Tropical and Sub-Tropical Fisheries Technological Conference of the Americas. TAMU-SG-79-101: 251-253.

Cattaneo, P. and C. Cantoni. 1979. Residual bisulfite in canned crustacean meat. Indus. Aliment. 18: 887-890.

Chinnamma, P.L., D.R. Chaudhuri and V.K. Pillai. 1970. Technological aspects of

processing of edible mussels, clams and crabs: I. Spoilage during ice storage. Fish. Tech. 7: 137-142.

Cockey, R.R. 1980. Bacteriological assessment of machine picked meat of the blue crab. J. Food Protection 43: 172-174.

Collins, J. and R.L. Brown. 1965. Frozen king crab (Paralithodes camtschatica) meat: Effect of processing conditions on fluids freed upon thawing. U.S. Dept. Int., Dept. Fish. & Wildlife, Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish. Indus. Res. 2(4): 45-53.

Dickerson, R.W., Jr. and M.R. Berry, Jr. 1974 Temperature profiles during commercial pasteurization of meat from the blue crab. J. Milk Food Tech. 37: 618-621.

Fujii, Y., M. Nenohi, A. Oyama and Y. Suzuki. 1972. Relation between quality of canned red

crab and freshness of materials used. Bull. Tokai. Reg. Fish. Res. Lab. 69: 99-106.

Gangal, S.V. and N.G. Mager. 1963. Freezing of crabmeat. Food Tech. 17: 1573-1578.

Gangal, S. and N.G.:Magar. 1967. Canning and storage of crabmeat. Food Tech. 21: 3977400..

George, C. 1973. Technological aspects of pre-servation and processing of edible shell fishes. IV. Comparative efficiency of different glazes in the preservation of frozen crab meat. Fish. Tech. 10: 166-167'.

George, C. and M.A. James. 1971. Technological aspects of preservation and processing of edible shell fishes. II. Influence of season on the chemical composition of crab (Scylla serrate). Fish. Tech. 8: 83-88.

Giddings, G.G. and L.H. Hill. 1975. Processing effects on the lipid fractions and principal fatty acids of blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) muscle. J. Food Sci. 40: 1127-1129.

Gordievskaya, V.S. 1964. Reasons for crab meat turning blue. Chem. Abet. 1966: 64:1265d. (Original publication in Tr. Molodykh Uchenykh Vses Nauchn-Issled. Inst. Morsk. Pybn. Khoz. i. Okeanogr. 1964: 223-229).

Groininger, H.S. and J.A. Dassow. 1964. Obser-vations on the °blueing° of king crab, (Paralithodes camtschatica). U.S. Dept. Int., Fish & Wildlife Serv., Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish. Ind. Res. 2(3): 47-52.

Hoefner, Jr., P.A. and D. Garten. 1974. Methods of handling and shedding blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Virginia Inst. Mar. Sci. Mar. Resources Advisory Series No. 8: 14

p.

Holmsen, A.A. and H. McAllister. 1974. Technological and economic aspects of red crab harvesting and processing. Univ. Rhode Is. Tech. Rep. No. 28: 35 p.

Ichisugi, T. 1972. Frozen storage of marine products. VI. Frozen storage of red crab. Monthly Rep. Hokkaido Fish. Exper. Stat. (Japan) 27: 330-332. (Can. Trans).* Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 2059; 7 p.).

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned rab meat - I. Chemical analysis and histologi447 al observation of blue meat. Bull. Jap. Soc.I Sci. Fish. 36: 588-591.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of/canned crab meat - II. Detection of hoemocyanin in the blue meat. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 36: 692-694.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloratiOn of canned crab meat - III. Sulphide reaction of

113

APPENDIX 1B (Cont'd)

crab haemocyanin. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 36: 695-697.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned crab meat - IV. Spectrophotometric study of blue meat. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 36: 945-948.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned crab meat - V. IsCIation of causative substance of blue meat. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 36: 1040-1043.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1970. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned crab meat - VI. The mechanism of copper and sulphite reaction in heat - coagulated haemocyanin. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 36: 1044-1047.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1971. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned crab meat - VII. Further study on the causative substance of the blue meat. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 37: 1007-1010.

Inoue, N. and T. Motohiro. 1971. A cause and mechanism of blue discoloration of canned crab meat - VIII. Some observation of clotting of crab haemolymph. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 37: 1011-1014.

Jones, R. 1967. Use of sodium acid pyro-phosphate to retain natural moisture and reduce struvite in canned king crab (Paralithodes sa). U.S. Dept. Int., Fish & Wildlife Serv., Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish Indus. Res. 4(1): 83-87.

Kizevetter, I.V. and V.S. Gordievskaya. 1970. Technology of crab meat canning. Proc. Pacific Sci. Res. Inst. Fish. Oceanography (Rus.) 60: 3-150 (Can. Trani. Fish. Aquat. Sci. No. 1523: 270 p.)

Lai, C. 1972. The influence of polyphosphate, sodium chloride and hydrogen ion concentra-tion on heat mediated binding of crab meat. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 73-14, 671: 54 p.

Learson, R.J., G. Reierstad and V.G. Ampola. 1972. The application of continuous centri-

fugation to seafood processing. Food Tech. 26(7): 32-34.

Learson, R.J., B.L. Tinker, V.G. Ampola and K.A. Wilhelm. 1976. Roller extraction of crab

meat. In Proc. of First Annual Tropical and Sub-Tropical Fisheries Technological Conference Vol.2. Texas A & M University -Sea Grant College, Publication No. TANU-SG-77-105: 621-630.

Littleford, A.A. 1957. Retort cooking of blue crabs. Univ. Maryland Seafood Proc. Lab. Bull No. 1: 16 p.

Littleford, R.A. 1957. Studies on pasteurization of crab meat. j University Maryland Seafood Proc. Lab. Bull. No. 2: 14 p.

Loaharanu, P. and A. Lopez. 1970. Bacteriologi-cal and shelflife characteristics of canned, pasteurized crab cake mix. Appl. Microbiology 19: 734-741.

Lynt, R.K., D.A. Kautter and H.M. Solomon. 1979. Heat resistance of non-proteolytic (Clostridium botulinum) type F in phosphate buffer and crab meat. J. Food Sci. 44: 108-111.

Miyauchi, D., M. Eklund, J. Spinelli and N. Stoll. 1964. Irradiation preservation of Pacific

coast shellfish. I. Storage life of king crab meats at 33.0 and 42.F, Food Tech. 18: 928-932.

Miyauchi, D., J. Spinelli, N. Stoll, G. Pelroy and M. Eklund. 1966. Irradiation preservation of

of Pacific coast fish and shellfish - IV. Storage life of Dungeness crab meat at 33.F (0.5.C) and 42.F (5.5.C). 1966. International J. Applied Radiation Isotopes 17: 137-144. •

Motohiro, T. and N. Inoue. 1970. pH of canned crab meat I. Stages in the molting cycle in relation to pH. Food Tech. 24: 1389-1391.

Nagasawa, Y. 1960. Studies on the "browning° of canned crab meat (Paralithodes camtschatica Til.). Mem. Fac. Fish. Hokkaido Univ. (Japan) 8(2): 1-96.

Novak, A.F., R.M. Grodner and M.R.R. Rao. 1965. Radiation pasteurization of fish and shellfish. Adv. Chem. Ser. No. 65: 142-151.

Priebe, K. and U. Kietzmann. 1971. Judging commercially available canned crab meat. Fleischwirtschaft (Ger.) 51: 1043-1050.

Ravesi, E.M. 1969. Effect of processing and frozen storage on the carotenoid pigments of Alaska king crab. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. Technol. Lab., Ketchikan, Alaska, Tech. Report NO. 70.

Ray, B., N.B. Webb and M.L. Speck. 1976. Micro-biological evalauation of blue crab processing operations. J. Food Sci. 41: 398-402

Reber, E.F., M.H. Bert, E.M. Rust and E. Kuo. 1968. Biological evaluation of protein quality

of radiation-pasteurized haddock, flounder and crab. J. Food Sci. 33: 335-337.

114

APPENDIX 1B (Coned).

Safronova, T.M. and T.D. Shchigoleva. 1973. Role of hexosamines in the browning of crabmeat. (In Russian) Ryb. Khoz. (Moscow) (9): 59-60. (Chem. Abst. 1974 80: 2374a).

Sims, G.G. and W.E. Anderson. 1976. Minced rock crabmeat: Production and shell particle content. Can. Inst. Fd. Sci. Tech. J. 9: 6-10.

Sintier, P. 1972. Sea transport of frozen shell-fish. Revue Technique Veterinaires Hygienistes L'Alimentation 10(86): 24-30.

Spinelli, J., M. Eklund and D. Miyauchi. 1964. Irradiation preservation of Pacific coast shellfish. II. Relation of bacterial counts, trimethylamine and total volatile base to sensory evaluation of irradiated king crab meat. Food Tech. 18: 933-937.

Steinbrecher, K. 1973. Colloborative study of the determination of ammonia as an index of decomposition in crabmeat. J. Ass. Off. Anal. Chem. 56: 598-601.

Stewart, J.E. and J.W. Cornick. 1970. Red crab (Geryon quinauedens). 1) Recommended live storage temperatures. 2) Resistance to gaffkemia, the lobster disease. Can. Fish & Aquat. Sci. New Series Circular No. 40: 2 p.

Strasser, J.H., J.S. Lennon and F.J. King. 1971. Blue crab meat. I. Preservation by freezing. U.S. Dept. Comm., N.O.A.A., Nat. Mar. Fish. Serv. Spec. Sci. Report 630: 1-13.

Strasser, J.H., J.S. Lennon and F.J. King. 1971.. Blue crab meat. II. Effect of chemical treatments on acceptability. U.S. Dept. Comm., N.O.A.A., Nat. Mar. Fish. Serv. Spec. Sci. Report 630: 15-26.

Take, T., H. Otsuka and Y. Yoshimura. 1967. Studies on the tasty substances in various foodstuffs 10. The tasty substances of edible crab (Chionoecetes opilio O. Fabricus). J. Home Econ. (Japan) 18: 209-212. (Torry Res. Stat. Trans. No. 499: 11 p).

Tanikawa, E. 1959. Studies on technical problems on the processing of canned crab. Mem. Fac. Fish. Hokkaido Univ. (Japan) 7: 95-155.

Tanikawa, E. and S. Doha. 1965. Heat processing of shellfish. In "Fish as Food" edited by G. Borgstrom; Academic Press: 4, part 2: 305-337.

Teeney, F.M., D. Miyauchi and G. Pelroy. 1969. Irradiation of Pacific coast fish and shellfish. VII. Storage life at 33.F of irradiated and repacked meat of Dungeness crab. U.S. Dept. Int. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish. Indus. Res. 5: 17-24.

Tetsuo, T. 1978. Quality improvement of frozen, shelled crustaceans. Unexamined Patent Gazette (Japan) Appl. 77/54999 (Dec. '78): 3

P.

Tinker, B.L. and R.J. Learson. 1972. An improved precook process for blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). Chesapeake Sci. 13: 331-333.

Tretsven, W.I. 1971. The separation of crag meat from shell and tendon by a centrifugal process. Comm. Fish. Rev. 33: 48-49,

.ftuchiya, T. and Y. Fujii. 1972. Studies on utilization of Beni-zuwai (Chionoecetes japonicas Rathbun) - I. Properties of papercrab meat of Beni-zuwai. Bull. Tokai Reg. Fish. Res. Lab. 70: 87-94.

Ulmer, Jr., D.H.B. 1964. Preparation of chilled meat from Atlantic blue crab. U.S. Dept. Int., Dept. Fish & Wildlife, Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish Indus. Res. 2(3): 21-45.

Varga, S. and W.E. Anderson. 1971. Black dis-colouration of frozen cooked red crab. bept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection and Technology Lab., Halifax, Tech. Report No. 10: 5 p.

Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1969. Precooking required for red crab sections. Dept. Fish & Oceans Regional Inspection & Technology Lab., Halifax, Tech. Report No. 1: 3 p.

Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1969. Survival of red crabs held on - ice and refrigerated air. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab, Halifax, Tech. Report No. 2: 3 p.

Varga, S., A.B. Dewar and W.E. Anderson. 1970. Effect of post-mortem spoilage on the quality of frozen and heat processed red crab meat. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Regional Inspection & Technology Lab, Halifax, Tech. Report No. 3: 3 p.

Waters, M.E. 1970. Blueing of processed crab meat. 1. A study of processing procedures that may cause a blue discoloration in pasteurized crab meat. U.S. Dept. Int. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., Bur. Comm. Fish., Fish. Indus. Res. 6: 173-182.

Waters, M.E. 1970. Effect of the nitrofuran-furyl furamide on crab meat quality. J. Milk Food Technology 33: 319-322.

Waters, M.E. 1971. Blueing of processed crab meat. II. Identification of some factors involved in the blue discoloration of canned crab meat (Callinectes sapidus). U.S. Dept. Comm., N.O.A.A. Spec. Sci. Rep. fish. 71(633): 1-7.

APPENDIX 1B (Cont'd)

Webb, N.B., F.B. Thomas, R.E. Carawan and L.S. Kerr. 1969. The effects of processing on the

quality of scallops, oysters and blue crabs. North Carolina Dept. Conserv. & Dev. Spec. Sci. Report No. 19.

Webb, N.B., J.W. Tate, F.B. Thomas, R.E. Carawan and R.J. Monroe. 1976. Effect of freezing,

additives, and packaging techniques on the quality of processed blue crab meat. J. Milk Food Technol. 39: 345-350.

Wojtowicz, M.B. and W.J. Dyer. 1975. Processing of rock crab by meat separators. Can. Dept. Fish. & Oceans, Can. Fish Aquat. Sci. (Halifax) New Series Circ. 49: 10 p.

* Abstracts and data from literature pertinent to the Atlantic Crab Industry are presented as appendices in Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 1002.

115

- 117 -

C. HISTORY OF HANDLING SNOW CRAB IN NEWFOUNDLAND

S.A. Hann (1976) from Snow Crab Handling and

Processing. Interim Textbook. College of Fisheries

Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics, Parade St.,

St. John's, Nfld. Unpublished: 241 p.

119

HISTORY OF HANDLING SNOW CRAB IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Although the Newfoundland Snow Crab Fishery has been improving its holding and handling standards each year it is still faced with major problems. Snow Crab are still rejected during. processing because they died through mishandling. Many other animals are not as lively as they should be for good processing practice. This has often led to financial losses for all concerned and a lower quality product.

To improve our quality still further in this still relatively new fishery a price differential should be paid by processing plants to fishermen for Grade 1 and Grade 2 quality snow crab. A price differential along with strictly enforced holding and handling standards onboard the vessel and onshore would make for.a much improved snow crab fishery.

In Newfoundland most crab are held onboard the vessel, stored belly-up in 50-60 lb. capacity boxes, in a hold that is prechilled with ice. The majority of crab landed are trucked to the processing plant in the same manner. If held at the plant, the crab are generally stored back-up in bulk in direct contact with ice and topped with a polysheeting covering.

In the Newfoundland Snow Crab Fishery, crab are held alive in air. If crab are to be held successfully in air three important points must be remembered:

1. Keep air cool; 2. keep air humidity high, and 3. no rough handling.

Three (3) major areas of concern during handling are:

T. Onboard the vessel 2. trucking, and 3. at the plant.

Snow crab live in the dark depths of the atlantic coast where temperatures are down near the freezing point. To hold crab alive under ideal conditions in air the object should be to simulate as closely as possible conditions found in the crab's natural environment.

Ideally, a refrigeration system would serve as the best method of maintaining constant temperature near the freezing point. Such a system would be needed onboard the vessel, during trucking, and holding at the plant. The use of ice and water spread generously over the floor of these areas would ensure high humidity. Snow crab should be containerized properly in tote boxes onboard vessel and remain undisturbed until processing. A second supply

of clean tote boxes should be supplied to the vessel. All crab storage areas should be well insulated.

(A) ONBOARD THE FISHING VESSEL

1. Fishermen's Specifications

For culling purposes onboard the:vessel, the Federal Ministry of Fisheries has regulations regarding the following:

(a) Mesh sizes of crab traps; (b) soft shelled specimens; (c) female specimens; (d) undersized specimens.

In addition to meeting Government regulations, some crab processing plants set their own specifications and -may request the fishermen not deliver crab with several missing limb6, badly discoloured (graveyard) crab, etc.

2. Culling

What is Culling? culling is the removal of undersized and'inferior crab from the catch.

How should culling be performed? Ideally, rejected crab should be returned to the sea in the best possible condition as early as possible.

Why cull undersize crab? The processing of undersized crab would result in higher labour costs with low production of meat. Because of this, plants do not find the processing of small crab economically feasible.

Why cull females? Since females seldom reach more than three (3) inches carapace width, government regulations require they be returned to the sea. the females ensure a continuing supply of crab for the future and should be handled with utmost care and returned to the sea unharmed. The eggs from the female Snow Crab in Atlantic waters show a high survival rate.

Why cull soft shelled crab? After changing their shells for growing room, crabs remain in a soft shell condition for several months. Soft shell crab can be easily recognized by the following factors:

Perhaps the chief indicator is the claw which is very flexible and on bending, the shell will bounce back.

Legs: The legs are translucent and watery.

Outer Shell: The top outer shell is bright while the belly side is quite pale. The soft shelled crab is also free from barnacles.

Sound: The soft shelled crab makes a rattling sound when shaken.

Claw:

It is not feasible to process this type of crab since on cooking ,at the processing plant, the cooked crab sections are found to be very low in meat. Also, the quality of this meat is unacceptable because although strong in flavour, the meat is watery and the texture:As stringy. Notice in Figure 1 (c) low meat yield in crab leg.

Why cull discoloured "graveycard° crab? These crabs may be readily recognized by their unattractive shell which is covered with brown/black discolouration and black scars. Although Government Regulations do not require culling this type of crab, the shell is rubbery and contains little meat and slows down production at the plant, mainly because of meat extraction difficulties.

120

GPV-.1_1_ 1. EG

fr v.

T i PC

- 121 -

Fig. 1. Illustration of Crab Legs and Meat Content (S. A. Hann, 1976) .

- 123 -

VIII GUIDELINES FOR FROZEN CRAB SECTIONS

EVALUATION

by

E. Power and P. Frost

Inspection Division

Fisheries Operations Branch

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

P.O. Box 1085

Sydney, Nova Scotia

B1P 6J7

Scoring Guide for Fresh and Frozen Queen Crab Meat (Chionoecetes opilio) - 1974

Grade Score

-

Appearance Desiccation Freezer Burn Washing

Arrangement (Except

Solid Pack)

Amount of Fine Meat, Broken Meat, (Except Solid

Pack)

. Undesirable Parts/lb. Pigment Color Odour Flavour Salt Texture

CGSB

Good (G)

10 / 9

Flat sur- faces, even, not rag- ged

None A little blood present

Uniformly arranged, fine meat in center of pack. Not more than 50% of legs light side up

Not more than 2/3 of the package contents is fine or broken meat .

None Bright red

Creamy white, bright, glist- ening

Strong charac- teris= tic odour of sound crab meat. Pleasant

Strong charac- teris- tic odour of sound crab meat. Pleasant

About right (1.6- 2.3%)

Firm, elastic, moist

Fair (F)

Ragged and un-

Slight, shallow

Blood present

Arranged fairly

Maximum of 5

Slight loss of

Slightly charac-

Slightly charac-

Not enough

Slight loss of

B even, Voids

and not color

but not large

uniformly, practically

instances of shell, '

sheen, traces of

teristic odour of

teristic odour of

salt (0.0-

elasticity

/ 7

present masking blood clots

all fine meat in center of pack. More than 50% of legs light side up

-- cartilage, gill or viscera

-- discolora- tion in blood

sound crab meat. Neutral

sound crab meat. Neutral

1.5%) Too salty (2.4 - 3%)

- 2 -

Grade Score Appearance Desiccation Freezer Burn Washing

Arrangement (Except

Solid Pack)

Amount of Fine Meat, Broken Meat, (Except Solid

Pack) Undesirable Parts/lb. Pigment Color Odour Flavour Salt Texture

Non- Poor Very rag- Moderate- Dirty, Fine meat More than Maximum of Red to Some dis- Turnipy Turnipy Exces- Soft, CGSB (P)

6 / 5

ged and uneven, deep voids

just deep enought to scrape off easily. Deep in small areas, not easily scraped off

large blood clots

not in center of pack Legs care- lessly arranged

2/3 of the package contents is fine or broken meat. No legs

15 instances of shell, cartilage, gill or viscera

dull red, Bleached

colors- tion in blood or along edges of legs. Dull, slightly greyish, yellowish, definite discolor-ation.

or veg- etable- like

or veg- etable- like. Slight sharpness, strong aftertaste

•

sively salty

tough, dry, short slight shredded like

Re- ject Qual- ity

Un- fit (U)

4 /

-- Excessive deep, not easily scraped off

-- -- -- Excessive inedible parts of crab. Flies, insects, hairs

-- Dark greyish, yellow, exces- sive blue or black

Stale, sour, musty, ammonia. Tainted or put- id

Stale, sour, musty, bitter after- taste,

-- Shredded-like, very soft, slippery, slimey, mushy

- 127 -

IX MISCELLANEOUS

- 129 -

A. LIST'OF PARTICIPANTS

Name Department Location

Clem Benoit Inspection P.O. Box 249 Arichat, N.S.

J.B. Brown C & P P.O. Box 186, North Sydney, N.S.

Cliff Burton C & P P.O. Box 186, North Sydney, N.S.

W. Capstick Inspection P.O. Box 2083, Halifax

Mike Conrad C & P P.O. Box 2, Glace Bay, N.S.

Abner Dewar Inspection P.O. Box 550, Halifax, N.S.

G. Doucette C & P Ingonish, N.S.

Ghislain Dufresne Inspection 901 Cap Ddamant, Quebec

W. Eavis Inspection P.O. Box 1085, Sydney, N.S.

Bob Elner Fisheries Research St. Andrews, N.B.

Paul Frost Inspection P.O. Box 186, North Sydney, N.S.

Barry George Inspection P.O. Box 201, Canso, N.S.

P.E. George Inspection P.O. Box 10, Guysborough, N.S.

Andre Gozzo Inspection P.O. Box 5030, Moncton N.B.

E.C.A. Johnson Inspection P.O. Box 2, Glace Bay, N.S.

P.J. Ke Development Br. P.O. Box 550, Halifax, N.S.

G.W. MacKay C & P P.O. Box 249, Arichat, N.S.

R.S. MacLeod C & P Baddeck, N.S.

Noel MacMillan Inspection P.O. Box 1085, Sydney, N.S.

Paul McClung C & P Arichat, N.S.

L.J. Muise C & P P.O. Box 157, Louisbourg, N.S.

C.G. Murphy C & P P.O. Box 1085, Sydney, N.S.

C.L. Outhouse Inspection P.O. Box 688, Tiverton, Digby Co., N.S.

Glen Patterson Inspection CP 516 Gaspe, Que.

E.L. Power Inspection Sydney, N.S.

Roger Roach Inspection P.O. Box 370, Shediac, N.B.

- 130 -

Name Department Location

V. Robichaud Inspection P.O. Box 358, Shippagan, N.B.

P.V. Shepard Inspection Sydney, N.S.

G. Sirois Inspection P.O. Box 370, Shediac, N.B.

J.F. Slade Inspection P.O. Box 1833, Antigonish

J.A. Whiting Inspection P.O. Box 1085, Sydney, N.S.

B. COURSE SCHEDULE

DAY ONE

0900 Introduction/Welcome R.E. Britten

0915 Crab Biology and Stock Distribution R. Elner

1015 Coffee Break

1030 Quality Considerations on Queen Crab A. Dewar

1130 Regulation Interpretation A. Gozzo/B. Matte

1330 Objective Evaluation Procedures P. Ke/E. Power

1430 Work Lab I (White/Soft-Shell) E. Power/P. Frost

1520 Coffee Break

1540 Work Lab II (Live Crab) P. Ke

DAY TWO

0900 Atlantic Crab Fishery - Special R.J. Bourque Presentation

0950 Work Lab III (S/W Shell; Live Crab) E. Power/P. Ke

1030 Coffee Break

1045 Handling and Utilization (Information P. Ke Transfer)

1330 Work Lab IV - Yield/Soft-Shell E. Power/P. Frost/P. Ke

1430 Work Lab V - Frozen Crab Section E. Power/P. Frost/P. Ke

1530 Coffee Break

1545 Work Lab VI - Live S/W Shell, Yield) P. Ke/E. Power/P. Frost

1630 Discussion/Follow Up P. Ke

- 132 -

C. FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS

70 0 See Distribution A

E.L. Power FkoM

DE Senior Products Inspector & Specialist

r • Gpvernment Gouvernement '1"r of Canada du Canada

- 133

MEMORANDUM REGION/. HDQ.

NOTE DE SERVICE

• FEB gi 1983 SMART .MMOWICAMON .1/1 SWAIM

h ISHERIES AND OCEAN 1 ... .

5.1

OUR fILLAIDIRE RifERDCE

2490-1 9

rOumMEMMIUMAmmx

447Feb. 17, 1983

Sul:LIE= OBJET

CRAB WORKSHOP ►

LI 2 1)8.3

It is a pleasure to advise at this time that the recent crab workshop which you so generously participated in was well received by all the class and can certainly be con-sidered a success.

Your professional assistance contributed largely to this success and for which we are grateful. Please accept our very sincere thanks.

Attached are copies of the critiques as received.

E .L. ELP/pg

DISTRIBUTION:

P.J. Ke, Dev. Br., Hlfx.' Bob Elner, St. Andrews, N.B. Abner Dewar, Halifax Andre Gozzo, Moncton, N.B. G. Sirois, Shediac, N.B. P.V. Shepard

- 134 -

CAPE BRETON SNOW CRAB COURSE

Feb. 15 & 16/83

Everyone felt slide presentations were good but could have been a little more informative.

Some felt that a book on Snow Crab summarizing from catching to processing would be helpful.

C & P & Inspection personnel enjoyed working together and can now appreciate each others' problems. C & P felt they have a much better view towards the crab fishery and feel that working with crab this year, they will be more confident.

Feel a strong need for development of a better way to determine soft shell crab. Would like Development Branch to work and develop a method by the use of micrometers in assessing shell thickness for soft shell vs. hard shell or maybe setting standards for a % of yield to determine soft or hard shell crab.

Quebec & N.B. participants appreciate being invited and informed us that we should all now be doing or assessing crab uniformly.

Would like to have a film on catching crab and handling as well as all stages of processing and handling.

Everyone would like a refresher course maybe every 1 to 2 yrs. for the sake of uniformity.

This may have been the only course where there were no negative comments.

All participants would like to thank all of the instructors for the expert presentation given in the past 2 days and would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Paul Ke for his involvement & hard work.

Another point to mention is that C & P would appreciate being involved in any other courses of this nature, realizing that maybe directly this isn't their work most of the time but if we're going to work together then lets know a bit about each others' jobs. Inspection personnel all agreed and ask for the same.

- 135 -

- In general a very good course.

- Confirmed we work in the same manner in Quebec as Scotia Fundy.

- Use same methods of inspection and same tolerances.

- Slides and documents appreciated.

- Found there was a certain lack of laboratory space.

- No final definition on what is a soft-shell crab (necessary pressure to break claws).

- Hope we will be invited to other workshops relating to various species and final product analysis.

Original signed by:

Glen Patterson and Ghislain Dufreshe

- 137 -

D. INTERIM REPORT ON LIVE QUEEN CRAB

(Chionecetes opilio) HOLDING

by

B.G. Burns and P.J. Re

Fisheries Development Branch

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

P.O. Box 550

Halifax, Nova Scotia

B3J 2S7

- 139 -

INTRODUCTION

The production of a high quality end product in the processing of Queen crab (Chionecetes opilio) depends on the initial quality of the raw material. Therefore, to ensure a top quality product a supply of fresh live crab must be maintained. There are several methods available to hold live crab for the short terms usually required for processing such as contact icing, refrigerated sea water (RSW), chilled moist air (CMA) and circulating aerated seawater (CAS). For longer storage periods RSW and CAS holding systems are recommended. As it is sometimes desirable to maintain a stock of live crab for several months after closure of the fishing season either for experimentation or for retail sale cost and/or reliability of the system may become a factor in the selection of a holding system. For these reasons we have chosen a simple CAS system to determine the mortality of crab held in captivity for periods ranging up to five months.

EXPERIMENTAL

A. 1982 Crab Holding

In September of 1982, 65 Queen crab landed by day boat in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia were transported by car to the Halifax Laboratory. The crab were kept alive during the trip in an insulated tank using non-contact icing (NCI). Upon arrival the crab were placed in a CAS system (Fig. 1). The system was comprised of 90 x 90 x 45 cm fibreglass tanks, insulated by placing 25 cm of styrofoam over the tanks and then fibreglassing to "waterproof" the insulation. Each tank contained 200 litres of filtered (sand and gravel), unrecirculated sea water, flowing at a rate of 1 liter/minute. The holding room temperature ranged from 15-18°C while the water temperature ranged from 3-10°C. The aeration flow rate was set at approximately 200-300 ml/min and the crabs received 4-6 hrs of subdued incandescent lighting/ day. Six to ten animals were placed in each tank. A diet of herring chunks was supplied three times weekly and the animals were periodically checked for mortality.

B. 1983 Crab Holding

During the late summer of 1983, 474 crab were collected from day boats landing in the Cheticamp, Port Hood and Grand Etang areas. The crab were transported by truck to the Laboratory using either NCI or a RSW system. Dead or badly injured crab were removed upon arrival and the remainder placed in the CAS system as described previously (Fig. 1). In late September the remaining 132 crab which had not been sacrified for various experiments were collected together and held for an additional three month period.

- 140 -

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The percentage mortality of Queen crab during the 1982 holding study is shown in Table 1. After the initial "settling in" period of about two weeks the mortality rate dropped off sharply. During the five month study period the total mortality rate accumulated to only 26% of the original population. The initially high mortality rate probably is a result of crabs weakened or injured during transportation. The selection of vigorous, uninjured crab for long term storage might well alleviate this problem.

During the 1983 study (Table 2) mortality rates had already stablized by the time testing began as most of the crab had already been held for 1-li months. A 40% mortality was recorded during the three month study period (Table 2). The surviving crab in both cases were vigorous, healthly and robust.

The CAS system (Fig. 1) proved to be reliable and worked very well during both studies, however, a few airflow stoppages in 1983 may well account for the higher mortality observed in 1983. Water termperatures in the system ranged from approxi-mately 10°C down to about 3°C. Areas with water temperatures above 10°C would have to employ some form of refrigeration system as temperatures above 10°C are unsuitable for crab holding. In general this should not pose too much of a problem as sea water temperatures in Nova Scotia in late September are generally well below 10°C.

In summary Queen crab may be successfully held for several months in a simple CAS system with mortalities in the 26-40% range. This information should prove valuable to retailers or others wishing to maintain a supply of live crab for the winter months.

- 141 -

Table 1: Percent mortality of Queen crab held in a circulating aeroted sea water system (CAS) in 1982.

DAY NUMBER ALIVE* PERCENT MORTALITY

1 64** 1.5

4 60 7.7

13 59 9.2

22 57 12.3

28 56 13.8

43 54 16.9

64 52 20.0

112 49 24.6

147 48 26.1

* 65 crabs on DAY 0 (landing day) **1 crab dead from injuries. After the crabs being

transported to Halifax Lab.

- 142 -

Table 2: Percent mortality of Queen crab held in a circulating aeroted sea water system (CAS) in 1983.

DAY NUMBER ALIVE* PERCENT MORTALITY

1 132 0

5 132 0

11 127 3.8 .

14 127 3.8

16 127 3.8

19 125 5.3

21 125 5.3

24 125 5.3

27 121 8.3

31 115 12.9

37 115 12.9

47 113 14.4

57 101 23.5

60 99 25.0

67 98 25.8

75 84** 36.4

82 84 36.4

97 79 40.0

* 132 crab alive DAY 0 ** 14 deaths, probable cause airflow stoppage.

Fig. 1. Diagram of a circulating aerated sea water system

USE: /4'4IN SEA WATER AT - le ec

200 -200 mt./mit4 AIR now 'TO SEA

WATER SUPPLY

41.0 WATT LIGHT

70 AIR

SUPPLY

PIPE A/R ROSE FLEX/BL E

2 .5* cm 231A.

)VERFLOW PI PE

-A-

riBERG LASS TRACK FoR BAFFLE

25cm

REMOVABLE PERFOR

BAFFLEATED * 41131P

1

fliji

.,"11111

.."*1

Ala oh 1,1 1 '.III!

III , III

II III 1 . 4 •

::111 11

1 urth

45 cm

-1*

I cm TilicK riegRCLA

AIR STONE

2.54-cm s V RoFonfri

--44cm irisERcLass

—4 TO ZRAIN

SECT/ ON A - 90 cm