A seafood opener comprising a fork located on a first end configured to remove shells from seafood. The fork is further configured to be used as a hammer to crack the shells of seafood. A second end of the seafood opener includes a pry blade configured to pry oysters or clams open in order to access the meat inside. A bottle opener is also located on the first end of the seafood opener.

A device is for cracking a shell of a food item. The device has a first plier, a second plier and a pivot rotatably connecting the first plier with the second plier for enabling the food item, when arranged between the pliers, to be compressed between the pliers by a rotation of the pliers towards each other. The device further comprises a lockable spacing arrangement having an acceleration dependent locking device adapted to permit the rotation of the two pliers towards each other if an acceleration of the rotation is below a threshold value and adapted to lock the rotation of the two pliers towards each other if the acceleration of the rotation is equal to or exceeding said threshold value.

An inspection station and a method of inspecting products for anomalies. The inspection station comprises a trough and a light source. The trough channels a flow of product-laden water along its length. The light source illuminates the product through the water from below, making product anomalies detectable by visual inspection. In that way, products with anomalies, such as shrimp with residual veins, can be culled and reprocessed.

Disclosed herein are systems for tenderizing meat samples using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) comprising one or more transducer arrays. Further disclosed are methods and uses of the systems to tenderize meat samples.

Disclosed herein are systems for tenderizing meat samples using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) comprising one or more transducer arrays. Further disclosed are methods and uses of the systems to tenderize meat samples.

A method for inspecting peeled shrimp by human operators in a culling station illuminated by ambient visible light and in a dark shell-detection booth illuminated by ultraviolet (UV) lamps. The UV radiation emitted by the lamps is filtered to remove visible light from the filtered UV irradiating the shrimp in the dark booth. Irradiated shrimp shell fluoresces and is detectable by the naked eye. A human operator in the dark booth detects the fluorescing shell and removes those shrimps.

A novel method for automated extraction of crawfish tail meat comprises placing cooked crawfish on a tray having a bottom slot, applying a downward pressure to the cooked crawfish, extending a rotating brush through the bottom slot to urge the cooked crawfish into a horizontally exposed position, extending a rotating blade through the bottom slot to an incision, then applying a vacuum force to the bottom slot simultaneous to an increase in the downward pressure, causing the cooked crawfish to bulge and the tail meat to be extracted through the slot, after which the carcass is ejected. A plurality of trays can either be rotated in a circular path or conveyed along a linear path above the various tools as cooked crawfish are loaded and carcasses are ejected.

Shrimp processing apparatus to peel shrimp along with methods for peeling shrimp are described herein. The shrimp processing apparatus may be provided in systems including one or more processing stations configured to peel individual shrimp, where peeling may involve removal of shell segments on the dorsal surfaces of the shrimp abdomen and/or removal of pleopods/swimmerets on the ventral surfaces of the shrimp abdomen and, optionally, separation of shell segments. The processing systems and methods may, in one or more embodiments, include apparatus for and methods of measuring the shrimp.

Disclosed herein are a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a crab stick capable of saving costs accompanied by peeling off a film in businesses consuming a huge amount of crab sticks and reducing a generation of waste film providing a cause of environmental pollution by passing through and horizontally arranging plural strings of binding meats, which are wound in a bar shape, at a predetermined interval and covering upper and lower portions of the binding meats with a film and then packaging the covered binding meats by heat sealing.

Disclosed herein are a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a crab stick capable of saving costs accompanied by peeling off a film in businesses consuming a huge amount of crab sticks and reducing a generation of waste film providing a cause of environmental pollution by passing through and horizontally arranging plural strings of binding meats, which are wound in a bar shape, at a predetermined interval and covering upper and lower portions of the binding meats with a film and then packaging the covered binding meats by heat sealing.