Effectiveness of a heat/cool technique for shucking oysters

A method was developed to use heat/cool processes to effectively shuck oysters. The optimal method devised required only low-pressure steam and chilled water, thus providing a low cost and readily available solution to processors. A series of treatments were devised, and instrumentation installed to monitor process temperatures. Steam injection was used for heating, a vacuum pump was used to increase heating and chilling rates and an ice water solution was used for chilling. Sixty-seven different treatment combinations of both time-temperature and oyster location were tested on a total of 697 oysters. Release rates of up to 85% were observed. Coupling release rates with acceptable meat quality suggests optimal time-temperature combinations for the oysters studied (primarily from Louisiana and Mississippi coasts of the Gulf of Mexico) of 30 s pre-heat; 30 s steam injection at 30 psi; 30 s hold and 240 s ice water chill for these oysters. Variations among treatments suggest that this method of evaluation would be needed for different localities and oyster types, but still suggests that this methodology may potentially provide effective and inexpensive methods for automating oyster shucking.