By SeeFoon Chan-Koppen
I have a secret. I am a crab lover. I love crabs of all species: Mud, Flower, Alaskan, Snow, Spanner…you name it, I love it.
But I do worry about it’s provenance. There is always that dreaded Hepatitis lurking around the corner and often as I am tucking into a yummy crab carapace laden with roe and some murky green stuff, I usually just say a little prayer and tuck in with gusto anyway.
Lab Verified Nutri Carbs
However, now in Ipoh, we can allay our fears and eat “clean” crabs. No longer do I have to worry about E. Coli and other nasties lurking in the mud or the carapace. Now I can eat as many Nutri Crabs as I wish with impunity. This is lab verified as I asked to see the lab certificate which is issued from ILAC and Standards Malaysia.
Branded as Nutri Crabs, this is the brainchild of a partnership between Shanker Vasudevan, and Pang King Cheong. King Cheong paired up with Vasudevan who holds a BSc Hons (UPM) in Biomedical Science and a Diploma in Med Lab Technology. King Cheong, who comes from a background as a civil contractor, went with his partner on a study tour of Mangrove Crab-raising in Thailand and Philippines and returned to Perak to begin their crab-raising project.
Together they bought 70 acres at Segari at Dinding River which is near Pantai Remis, with 20 earthen ponds. Each pond is about 1 acre for the crabs to swim freely and are able to hold and produce 3,000 crabs each. Operating under the name of Yuen Tung Aqua Sdn Bhd, the whole project took off in late 2020 with a delay caused by the Pandemic and MCO, and the hatchery with its ‘grow out ponds’ started operations.
No antibiotics or chemicals are used on the crabs. Random samples are taken and sent to accredited food laboratories for pathogen detection. All crabs are checked for meatiness and roe (female crabs). Only crabs with intact limbs and pincers are sold. They can boldly advertise no E. Coli and other Coliforms in their crabs.
Preparation
I can vouch for the quality of their crabs. You don’t have to scrub them (just rinse under running water) and they arrive still alive as I was advised to soak them in ice and water to stun them before steaming. No foul smell was detected compared to wild, unknown source crabs and the meat was sweet and firm.
All I did was steam them under the strict instructions that were provided. 6 minutes for the body, then add the carapace and steam for 1 minute. Switch off. And the crabs are ready to eat. No salt, no soya, no seasoning.
I like to eat my crab cold and the next day, I was in crab heaven tucking into the sweet flesh and the piece de resistance, the abundant golden red roe. Never have I tasted such sweetness and umami. And I did not add a drop of any type of sauce. For me, even the famous Hairy crab which only comes for a short season, pales in comparison.
The production is carefully controlled from hatchery to farm through a quality control system involving all aspects of mud crab production including hatchery, nursery, farming, harvesting, post-harvest processing, packing, transport, marketing and distribution.With its proximity to the sea, fresh seawater is continually pumped in and filtered, thus ensuring a clean growth environment.
To provide its Premium Quality Crabs to as many clients as possible, each crab is individually assessed and accurately graded to exacting standards. Nutri Crabs crabs are chock full of meat and the roe has to be seen and tasted to be believed.
Sustainable Farming
All crabs using the species “Scylla paramamosain”, also known as “Green Shell Crab”, are sustainably farmed by breeding. All the crabs are fed oysters, plankton and corn since they were crablets, so the meat is particularly sweet. Although the growth cycle is the same as wild crabs, the meat and roe are cleaner, safer than wild crabs. A great plus point is their growth environment which is extremely healthy, using fresh sea water cleaned by an eco filter system which operates 24/7 without electricity.
Kenneth Pang, King Cheong’s brother, handles the delivery and marketing. This amiable young man goes to Pantai Remis regularly and brings the crabs down to Ipoh.
Orders are taken 2-3 days in advance and depending on the size, some may even be available immediately.
Contact:
Nutri Crab Trading (CT0092668-A)
83A Jalan Raja Musa Aziz
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Malaysia
Email: nutricrab@gmail.com
Tel: +60165240401
Facebook | Instagram | Website
=============================
Get your local news fast. Download the Ipoh Echo App on your mobile. Available on both Google Playstore and Apple Appstore.
