17/02/14: Aquaculture America Abstract: Developing and validating protocols for waterless shipping of live shrimp

Shrimp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

During this year's Aquaculture America event - which took place back in January in Seattle, USA - David Kuhn, research assistant professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech, USA presented a talk on Developing and validating protocols for waterless shipping of live shrimp as part of the Seafood Processing and Transport sessions. Below is an extract form the session.
Shrimp is the number one consumed seafood product in the US., with an average annual per capita consumption of four pounds. Over 90% of the shrimp consumed in the US. is imported, and the majority of imported shrimp is from farmed, not wild-caught sources. The US has significant interest in developing an aquacultured shrimp industry.
Both pond and RAS production of shrimp (marine shrimp and freshwater prawns) have been shown to be technically feasible and commercial enterprises using both systems exist. However, production costs for US growers exceed those of foreign competitors, such as Asia and Central America. The US market value of commodity shrimp is depressed due to the high volume of foreign product available. To support the continued growth of a shrimp aquaculture industry in the U.S., a niche market that commands a significant premium over imported shrimp prices must be leveraged. The live market represents a very promising niche for US-grown shrimp. It is difficult and costly for importers to ship live shrimp to the US; hence the live market represents an opportunity for US producers that will experience little-to-no competition from foreign imports.
If shrimp can be shipped live without water weight, significant savings would be realized.
Read the full text here.