Prime Shrimp – Audits

The Responsible Seafood Choice

Laitram Machinery invented the first automated shrimp peeling machine 70 years ago and has spent three generations designing and building equipment used to process seafood all over the globe.  They know shrimp, and they knew that they could offer a better farm-raised shrimp product by doing a few important things differently.  With this knowledge, Laitram recently started a new company called Prime Shrimp.  With their extensive knowledge in shrimp peeling technology, they built the most advanced shrimp peeling facility that they could dream up.

Their shrimp are fully peeled in the most advanced hands-free facility ever built for consistent, exceptional quality in every bag.  Prime Shrimp is Pacific White Shrimp sourced directly from the finest aquaculture operations in the world and raised in low-density, antibiotic-free aquatic environments for superior taste and texture.  Prime Shrimp are sustainably raised and responsibly processed. They are delicious and attractive, easy to handle and fun to cook.

Food Safety Audit

Food Safety Audit was Needed to Expand Operations

As a fast-growing shrimp provider located in the New Orleans area, Prime Shrimp quickly realized that they needed a third-party food safety audit to become a supplier of seafood to the major retail stores.  The food safety, processing and auditing side of the seafood industry was still new to them and they realized that partnering with an outside consultant was the best approach to expedite the process of developing and implementing the programs and procedures necessary to pass a third-party food safety audit.   They contacted Food Safety and Quality Services in January of that year to assist them with this project.

As a fast-growing shrimp provider located in the New Orleans area, Prime Shrimp quickly realized that they needed a third-party food safety audit to become a supplier of seafood to the major retail stores. 

Preparing for an Initial Food Safety Audit

Two Audits in 11 Months

Prime Shrimp needed to have their first third-party food safety audit completed by July of that year so we quickly went to work on this project.  They had already selected the audit standard that they would use as well as a certification body who would perform the audit.  We performed an initial GAP assessment against the audit standard and developed a working list of tasks that needed to be performed and assigned responsibility for each of those tasks.  We were on site weekly for the next few months assisting with writing procedures, creating forms, training employees and giving audit guidance wherever necessary.

They had their very first food safety audit in July of that year and passed with an A-grade.  What really made this project special was that they then decided to go for a GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) audit before the end of year.  They chose the BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices) standard and used their recent audit momentum to pass their BAP audit in November of that year with ZERO FINDINGS!