1 Harvesting

Chicken of the Sea premium blue swimming crab meat is caught by artisan fishermen using traditional methods. Our blue swimming crabs are immediately packed in ice.

2 Receiving

At receiving, the crabs are then immediately washed and kept on ice to keep as fresh as possible.

3 Cooking

Crabs are then steam cooked within hours of coming off the boats and then packed in ice to preserve freshness.

4Grading

Crab meat is then graded, which refers to the process of picking and separating out the specific forms of crab meat and examining quality prior to processing. Crab meat not meeting our stringent quality specifications is rejected.

5 Processing

Crab meat is processed to meet a variety of consumer and customer needs. Common product forms are colossal, jumbo lump, super lump, lump, backfin, special and claw. Each facility has production lines designed specifically to process crab meat according to these product formats. Individual grades of crab meat are reviewed again for adherence to grading specifications and to remove any shell content or cartilage.

6Packing/Sealing

Crab meat is hand packed into cans or cups.

7 Pasteurization

Crab meat is then pasteurized to specific temperatures to ensure complete pasteurization. Product is then cooled to bring down core temperatures, then sent to refrigerated storage.

8 Finished Product Evaluation

Samples of each finished production code receive qualitative and quantitative evaluations prior to being released for shipment. Specific attributes that are evaluated include color, odor, flavor, smell, texture and workmanship.

9 Shipping

Finished product is shipped to our customers.