Abstract:
The present invention is directed to a method and system for preparing a pasteurized swimming crab back (PSCB) fin leg (“crab leg”) for individual consumption. In particular, the method and system of the present invention results in a pasteurized, hand-held, all natural food product for consumption by a consumer. The PSCB product is a ready to eat crab leg that has been trimmed, cleaned, thermo processed and packed in a hermetically sealed can or cup.

Description:
[0001]    This patent application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/171,902 filed on Apr. 23, 2009. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Pasteurized crabmeat cannot easily compete with the canapé foods that are easy to consume, such as shrimp cocktail, buffalo wings etc. Normally, crabmeat is buried in a crab cake or a pasta etc, and is otherwise strictly a “fork food”. It would be desirable therefore to enable a crab to be eaten casually with one&#39;s hands, and to otherwise give it greater presentation appeal. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present invention is directed to a method and system for preparing a pasteurized swimming crab back (PSCB) fin leg (“crab leg”) for individual consumption. In particular, the method and system of the present invention results in a pasteurized, hand-held, all natural food product for consumption by a consumer. The PSCB product is a ready to eat crab leg that has been trimmed, cleaned, thermo processed and packed in a hermitically sealed can or cup. 
         [0004]    Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved method for preparing a pasteurized swimming crab back fin leg for individual consumption. 
         [0005]    Another object of the invention is to provide a crab leg product that has been trimmed, cleaned, processed and packed. 
         [0006]    A further object of the invention is to provide a method for converting the jumbo lump portion or body meat of a crab into a finger food. 
         [0007]    Still another object of the invention is to provide a pasteurized crab meat product that can be eaten out of the can. 
         [0008]    Still other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a top plan view and depicts a live crab, complete with all legs and body intact; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view and depicts a de-backed crab with jumbo lump portions attached to swimming legs and also showing remaining leg sections separated from one another with connected meat portions; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a top plan view and depicts a crab after being de-backed, particularly showing jumbo lumps connected to swimming legs; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a photograph of the complete ready-to-eat product. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0013]    A crab, and preferably a live blue swimming back fin crab is shown in  FIG. 1 , including swimming legs  10  and back  20 . In the method of the present invention, each such crab is steam cooked for a range of from 20 to 35 minutes and preferably for 35 minutes. Each cooked crab is air cooled using strong fans in a room ambient temperature environment for a period of 2 hours to lower the internal temperature of the crab. Cooled crabs are bagged and inserted into baskets and then transferred to a cold storage unit for overnight chilling. When cooled in the cold storage unit, the temperature is maintained in the range of 1 to 4° C. for at least an eight hour period, so that the internal temperature of the crab is reduced to the range of 1 to 10° C. 
         [0014]    Once the internal temperature of the crab is lowered to the range of 1 to 10° C., the crab is then de-backed. When de-backed, the carapaces, the gills, and fat are removed. Any remaining soft shell and residual fat are also removed.  FIG. 2  shows the de-backed crab with its two legs  10  remaining attached. Once the crab is de-backed, the remaining pleopod, that is the body meat (the “jumbo lump”)  40  remains attached to the swimming legs, or pleopod, which still contains the claw or leg meat within the pleopod shell. As can be seen in  FIG. 2 , debacked crabs have swimming legs attached, but otherwise all other shell has been removed. The legs are then sectioned, with a portion of the jumbo lump remaining attached to each leg.  FIG. 3  shows the de-backed legs sectioned, wherein each section includes swimming leg  10  and jumbo lump portion  30 . Each section is a ready-to-eat crab leg and is comprised of a shelled crab leg and a jumbo lump portion. The jumbo lump may then be manually trimmed, a process commonly known as “manicuring,” by removing any remaining outer shell remnants surrounding the jumbo lump and cleaning any residual fat. A large membrane, which attaches the claw shell to the jumbo lump, remains intact. The debacked crabs are then split into two parts with roughly half the meat remaining with each swimming leg element. Then each split crab element is put in plastic bags and packed in ice such that the exterior temperature remains in the range of −2° C. to +2° C. This range is selected so as to reduce the risk of meat decomposition. The soft shell of the swimming leg of each split crab element is then scored from its top to just above the fin. 
         [0015]    In some cases, the processing may result in broken fins or small quantities of meat. Those legs with broken fins, broken or mushy meat, or below a threshold weight (such as ten grams) are removed from the population and discarded. 
         [0016]    The bagged split crab elements are then delivered to a sizing line for purposes of sizing the products. Different sized products are placed in correspondingly sized trays, wherein each tray is packed in ice. Each split crab element is then inserted into a metal can and hermetically sealed to undergo further thermo processing. In general, the quantities per can may vary with size of can and weight of crab legs. For example, “Jumbo Crab Cicles” could contain 21-25 pieces of up to 10 gram size and “Colossal Crab Cicles” could contain 15-20 pieces of greater than 10 gram size. 
         [0017]    The crab leg is then pasteurized as follows. The hermetically sealed cans are placed in baskets and the baskets are submerged into hot water tanks. The pasteurization process can then begin, which includes heating the cans to a temperature range of 85-88° C. for a time period of 135-160 minutes. 
         [0018]    For either thermo process, heat penetration tests must be run to determine the killing lethality of the process and the associated shelf life. The target value is assurance of a product shelf life of at least 18 months, with such assurance based upon traditional water bath heat penetration tests for a defined time period. Upon completion of the heating cycle, the baskets are transferred to an ice slurry bath and submerged for a range of 90 to 145 minutes. The ice slurry is agitated throughout the time period. The overall pasteurization process follows FDA guidelines to assure that all pathogens are eliminated. The cans are then removed from the ice slurry bath, dried off, labeled as needed, and placed in master cartons for delivery to cold storage. 
         [0019]    By following this process, the intended shelf life for the product is 18 months. 
         [0020]    Once a can is opened, each crab leg is a hand-held ready to eat product and may, for example, be dipped into cocktail or tartar sauce.  FIG. 4  shows a completed ready-to-eat product. 
         [0021]    The scope of the invention will now be set forth in the following claims.