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Following on from a previous study to develop test criteria for defining 'free of flesh' shell, further trials have been undertaken to see whether a leach based test methodology could be used as an alternative. Additional tests were carried out on a range of different processes to identify which may be commercially feasible for producing free of flesh shell. The results of the trials showed that the leach based testing methodology was not reliable as a method. Crushing shell is an important stage in difficult to clean products such as crab. A commercial hybrid shell cleaning system could be suitable for commercial use but further engineering is required to develop a suitable system and the commercial viability will be dependant on any value of the clean shell by-products.

The findings of previous work to define free of flesh shell showed that whilst many shellfish types could be effectively cleaned some species were both hard to clean and difficult to assess their 'free of flesh' status due to high residual test levels of flesh test parameters within shells. This follow on project builds on the previous work, to help find a way forward in developing an alternative testing protocol based upon the use of a leach methodology and to explore options for a combination cleaning process which can produce FOF shell for difficult to clean shell types such as crab.