Crab factory expansion

A major £400,000 expansion is underway at the Orkney Fishermen’s Society (OFS) crab processing plant – already the UK’s largest – as the business moves to meet a growing demand for its products from leading supermarket chains.

Six new jobs will be created by the redevelopment, with work at the Stromness based factory due for completion early next summer. The plant, which currently employs around 80 people, has been operating seven days a week since June of this year.

Larger blast freezing and chill facilities are being created as part of the expansion programme, along with extra processing space for new, added value product lines. The OFS plant is also set to become the first in the UK to operate humane stunning equipment and x- ray shell fragment detection on a crab meat production line.