Argentine red shrimp (Pleoticus Muelleri) has a sweet delicate flavor similar to that of Maine lobster. The primary packs are whole head-on, headless shell-on, EZ peel, peeled and deveined and peeled tail on. The popularity of this shrimp is quickly growing in North America. Historically the markets have been in Europe, primarily Spain and Italy, as well as Japan and China. The shrimp is wild harvested off the coast of Argentina in the South Atlantic. There are two fisheries which are frozen on board and land frozen.
This is a very delicate shrimp and great care must be taken during processing ensure the best quality. Be very careful as to who you buy from as quality varies greatly among the different packers.
Shrimp are processed immediately upon capture in the frozen on board fishery. The shrimp upon removal from the net goes down a chute to the processing area. The shrimp is then graded to size, packed into cartons and then quickly frozen in plate freezers. The end result of this process is the best sashimi grade shrimp.
Land frozen shrimp are caught by day boats and processed in plants on the shore. When the vessels return to port the shrimp are loaded onto trucks and delivered to processing plants where they are immediately packed as whole shrimp or processed into other forms.
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