A process for preparing bivalve shellfish

摘要

This invention relates to a process for preparing bivalve shellfish and in particular to a process for preparing mussels. The process comprises initial cleaning and preparation steps for the bivalves before carefully placing the bivalves into large perforated rigid containers 27, vibrating the containers to compact the bivalves therein and sealing the bivalves in a closed configuration in the containers. Once sealed in the containers, the containers are placed in cooking pots (41, Fig 1(c)) and the mussels are at least partially cooked in the cooking pots before the cooking pots are filled with cold water to cool the bivalves. Once cooled, the containers are removed from the cooking pots and taken to a blast freezer where the bivalves are frozen in situ in the containers. Finally, the frozen bivalves are removed from the containers arid inspected before being packaged for distribution.