How to Pack Cooked Dungeness Crab to Ship It

Live and cooked crabs usually ship by air.

Dungeness crabs live at depths of up to 600 feet in swath of the Pacific Ocean that stretches from the Aleutians to Big Sur. They grow to an average size of eight inches across, and feed on a diet of clams, fish, other crabs and worms, and are famous for being delicious. Commercial seafood distributors ship the crabs cooked or alive by air and by truck. Anyone shipping their catch back home from Alaska should probably stick to shipping by air.

Things You'll Need

• 9 inch by 12 inch, 2-millimeter-thick plastic bags
• Plastic sealer
• Multi-walled, waxed fiberboard wetlock carton
• Gel ice packs
• Strapping tape
• Shipping labels
• Black marker

Instructions

1. Freeze at least six gel ice packs. The number of gel ice packs you will need depends on the amount of crab you intend to ship.

2. Chill the cooked crab. Seal the crab in batches in 9 inch by 12 inch, 2-millimeter-thick plastic bags using a plastic sealer. Immediately refrigerate each bag of crab after sealing.

3. Pack the bags of chilled, cooked crab, and the frozen gel ice packs in a multi-walled, waxed fiberboard wetlock carton. Arrange the gel ice packs to ensure that all the crab will remain chilled. Label the top bags of crab with the shipment's destination.

4. Seal the wetlock box with strapping tape. Label the top and all sides of the box with the contents and destination of the shipment using shipping labels and a black marker.

References

• "Guidelines for Shipping Seafood"; Alaska Airlines
• "Dungeness"; Crab Fresh
• "The Dungeness Crab"; The Dungeness Crab