Thank you Charles
Do you know by any chance if there is any regulations which states what heating process must be used for seafood products( prawns/ shrimps), We blanch them ( in shell) soon after harvest ( 6-7 min at 100C), then hand pick and blanch again. As they are not deep waters but more coastline I've found some research suggesting that they are a potential source of C botulinum thus require 90C for 10 mins heat treatment or equivalent. I cant find any references in law ( UK) as to specific processing parameters. Do you think that blanching is enough or we should cook for longer?
I have encountered 2 approaches to RTE shrimp cooking. One is to only do a cook on the whole shrimp as against yr method using 2 heat treatments.
I think the choice is particularly based on the quality/value of raw material and subsequent handling processing (ie spoilage-contamination-related criteria/automation). The second method is IMEX standard where the shell-on blanching is at a different location to final processing. Obviously there is a weight benefit for one step.
afaik, C.botulinum mainly comes into play where ROP packaging or maybe sous-vide processing involved but I suppose a specific risk in the raw material could relate. There is an extensive/useful discussion on C.botulinum in the well-known US-Fishery Hazards Book. You can also see some examples there of crabmeat where only one cook step is done.
afaik in Europe/UK, the "final" cook is typically based on 6D for L.monocytogenes (eg minimum or equivalent to 2min/70degC core). As I understand, USA tend to have a different opinion (more nervous about Salmonella). Some European countries have target micro. criteria other than L.monocytogenes (more demanding with respect to Lethality).
afaik UK does have generic, legal, retail, cooking requirements. Probably includes shrimp.
You need some data to make predictions. ![:smile:](https://www.ifsqn.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png)
Edited by Charles.C, 05 October 2020 - 01:23 PM.
edited