One would assume that all seafood is fresh harvested! So why would Sun Shrimp be different? Well, to better understand why, you have to compare the various processes utilized to harvest shrimp.
At Sun Shrimp we harvest live animals and immediately dip them in huge insulated totes filled with ice and water. When the shrimp hit the ice slurry inside the tote, they are immediately "chill-killed". This process is quick and humane.
When any creature dies, decomposing bacteria immediately get to work. But by having our shrimp suspended in a very cold ice slurry, this bacterial activity is slowed down significantly. It usually take about 15-20 minutes for our employees to harvest one full insulated tote with shrimp. Once the tote is full, it is transported to our onsite processing plant. Even the farthest tank is under a 5 minute ride from our processing plant.
At the processing plant the shrimp are quickly washed, graded and processed. Most shrimp is packed within one or two hours from harvest. It does not get any quicker then that.
Now lets compare that to normal practices:
The wild catch shrimp trawlers drag their nets for hours before pulling them to the surface. Most of the shrimp has been dead for hours by the time the nets are pulled to the surface. After the haul is dumped on the trawlers deck, the shrimp are hand sorted and go into the on board freezer....maybe hours after they died. Generally this shrimp is then thawed again for further processing once the boat returns to shore which could be one days or weeks later.
Imported shrimp is generally cultured in third world countries. Most farms do not have an onsite ice maker, let alone a processing plant. Shrimp will be harvested and many times is kept at ambient temperatures with minimal ice prior to being picked up by the refrigerated trucks that may travel days to get to the processing plant.
There are exceptions to everything, but when you consume commodity shrimp, it is very hard to know exactly where your shrimp come from and how they were harvested. But when you purchase Sun Shrimp, you know exactly where your shrimp came from and how they were harvested.
Quick harvest and low temperatures are the key. The reason why most of the shrimp industry has to use so many preservatives, bleached and dips, is to make the shrimp look good and safe, because the decomposing process was well under way when they were finally processed, At Sun Shrimp because our shrimp go from living to deep chilled within seconds after harvest, and then quickly processed means that bacteria never got a chance to start breaking down the shrimp, thus no dips or chemicals, bleaches or preservatives are ever used or needed.
Fresh harvesting is yet another reason why Sun Shrimp are one of America's most wholesome, nutritious and best tasting shrimp.