Video credit: Ahmed Shaheen (Egypt)
Review: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
This video was filmed in a shrimp operation in Vietnam
The practice of feeding snail meat to farmed shrimp in many Asian countries has been a popular and widely used practice in Asian countries. The driving force behind the use of snail meat has been due to be the high cost of commercial feed especially in the light of the abundance of snail populations in wetlands and marshlands.
In order to maintain the quality of snail meat, snails must be processed within 24 hours of harvesting. Moreover, in order to avoid possible spoilage to collected snails, its handling should be done without exposing snails to high temperatures whether during transportation or the temporary storage.
Whether done at the retailer or on the aquaculture facility, the processing of snails involves its de-shelling and removing the meat from the shells with a small handy tool. The snail meat is used in shrimp feeding while the shells are ground and sold to lime factories. Snail meat has been used as a sole meal or mixed with dry feed.
It should be noted that due to the over exploitation of the snails, its abundance has seriously declined in their natural habitats and its meat has become costly.
There are some concerns in regard to the over exploitation of snails. Because snails feed primarily on the leaves of aquatic plants, their mass removal for shrimp feed can result in increased growth of aquatic macrophytes, reducing light penetration and photosynthesis, and could lead to the eutrophication of water bodies.
