1 Receiving

Shucked oysters are delivered to canneries under refrigeration or iced. Incoming quality evaluations are performed, which include monitoring the temperature and condition of the oysters and performing sensory evaluations. Lots found unacceptable are rejected.

2Cleaning/Sorting

Oysters are thoroughly washed with potable water and sorted by size. Broken or tiny oysters are removed to be packed as pieces. Additional quality and sensory evaluations are performed at this stage.

3 Cooking

Oysters are given an initial cooking under controlled conditions prior to being smoked and/or canned.

4Smoking

Oysters to be packed and labeled as smoked are put through the smoking process under controlled time and temperature conditions.

5Can Filling

Cans are filled with a permanent production code that identifies plant, product, date packed and other pertinent information. The integrity of the hermetic seal is evaluated at frequent intervals during processing to ensure product safety.

6Thermal Processing

Sealed cans are retorted (cooked) under pressure utilizing process time and temperature schedules designed by processing experts to render the product commercially sterile. All aspects of thermal processing are strictly monitored and controlled.

7Finished Product Evaluation

Samples of each finished production code receive qualitative (e.g. color, odor, flavor, texture and cleaning) and quantitative evaluations prior to being released for labeling.

8 Labeling & Casing

Product lots meeting finished product evaluation criteria are labeled and cased. Cased products are appropriately marked with information necessary to facilitate product tracing.

9 Warehousing & Shipping

Cased products are shipped or staged in warehouses for later shipment.