Freezing Technology

Frozen squid

Raw materials

Seversal species of squid Loligo hardwikki, L. indica, L. affinis

Types of products

Squid is frozen in the following styles.

Squid whole                               -FSQW

Squid whole cleaned                 -FSQWC

Squid rolled pack                       -FSQR

Squid tube                                 -FSQT

Squid cylinder                           -FSQC

Squid tentacles                         -FSQTN

Squid fillets                               -FSQT

Squid wings/fins                       -FSQW/F

Squid rings                               -FSQR

Squid headless/Squid tube skin on

Pre-process handling

Separate the squid from other fish. Sort the squid species wise and size wise. Discard those with broken ink sacs. Discard any bruised or damaged or discoloured pieces. Wash well in potable water or clean uncontaminated sea water. Ice immediately and stock in to insulated boxes. Use only clean crushed/flake ice made from potable water. Ice and cuttle fish should be in alternate layers. The height of ice pack shall not exceed 50 cm. Handle the material carefully during loading/transportation/unloading.

Processing

Depending upon the type of pack desired, handle further as follows:

Squid whole: Use only fresh squid with skin and ink sac intact. Tie the ink sac with twine or clip it. Wash carefully using chilled potable water. Pack squid of uniform size and colour as blocks, shatter pack or individually wrapped. Weight packed as blocks or shatter pack in polythene lined waxed duplex cartons shall be such as to yield the declared drained weight on thawing. Add ice cold glaze water in blocks.

Squid whole cleaned: Remove the ink sac without detaching the head and tentacles from the tube. Eviscerate. Skin the tube, head and tentacles. Remove eye balls and beak. Wash well in chilled potable water. Pack as blocks, shatter pack or IQF.

Squid rolled: Remove head and tentacles. Split open the tube. Eviscerate, taking care not to rupture the ink sac. Remove the skin along with the fin. Wash the fillets well in chilled potable water. Roll the fillets into tubes. Pack as shatter pack or IQF.

Squid tube: Remove head and tentacles. Eviscerate, taking care not to rupture the ink sac. Remove the skin along with the fin. Wash thoroughly in chilled potable water. Roll the fillets into tubes. Pack as shatter pack or IQF.

Squid cylinder: Arrange fillets in an appropriately shaped container to get a cylindrical shape on freezing.

Squid tentacle: Remove the head and tentacles. Remove the skin from tentacle and wash thoroughly in potable water and pack as blocks, shatter pack or IQF.

Squid fillets: Remove head and tentacles. Cut open the tube. Eviscerate taking care to avoid breaking of ink sac. Remove the skin along with the fins. Wash thoroughly in chilled potable water and pack as blocks.

Squid wings/fins: Separate the wings/fins from the squid. Skin the fins and wings. Wash thoroughly in chilled potable water and pack as blocks.

Squid rings : Cut the skinned tube as rings. Wash thoroughly in chilled potable water. Pack as blocks or IQF.

Squid headless/squid tube skin on: Remove head and tentacles. Eviscerate, taking care not to rupture the ink sac. Wash well in chilled potable water. Roll the fillets into tubes. Pack as shatter pack or IQF.

Freezing

Blocks in contact plate freezer, IQF in IQF machines at –40^oC until the core temperature reaches –23^oC.

Storage

Pack cartons in waxed 5 ply fibre board master cartons and store in frozen store at –23^oC or below.

Factors	Tolerance in a sample	Aggregate in a sample
** general appearance and odour	Satisfactory
Dehydration	5%
Discolouration	10%
* Deterioration	5%
Bruised pieces	10%	15%
Non-uniform pieces	10%
Texture	Soft and Firm
Objectionable foreign matter	Nil