Processing and Marketing of Snails in Snail Business

April 18, 2023 Agric4Profits

It is no longer a new information that snail farming business also referred to as snail business is a very lucrative aspect of agricultural business where the snail farmer can make huge profit from his or her snail farm if the snail farming business is properly managed.

Aside from snail production or venturing into snail business, ever snail farmer’s aim of venturing into commercial snail farming in the first instance is to make sales to enable him or her make good return of profit from the snail farming business.

With this in mind, let us discuss about the different ways or methods of processing and marketing of snails especially for commercial snail farming below:

Processing of snails: Snails could be processed for eating purpose as form eight month of age
Use hard objects like stone, club or iron e.t.c to break the shell or put the snail in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Remove and shake. The visceral (Intestine and kidney e.t.c ) of the snail and the foot(edible portion) will come out of the shell.
Separate the edible portion (foot) from the visceral and the shell.
Wash the foot with alum or lime to remove the slime.
The edible portion can then be boiled, fried, stored or utilized as required.

Snail meat is becoming a valued delicacy, locally and internationally because of its high protein content and low level of cholesterol. The demand for snail, both locally and when exporting it from Nigeria to Europe, America and Asia, has now made it a very lucrative business. Snail is a commodity highly demanded by Nigerians and African restaurants abroad.

Snail is a source of protein and there are different kinds of snail but not all of them are good and healthy stock for framing and human consumption. However, most of the popular specie are archatina marginata, archatina archatina, helixpomatia and helix aspersa.

The first two species are usually helical in nature and generally small. Though commercial snail farming is a viable business as a result of demand for matured snail, the subject of this article would centre on the processing and packaging of snails alone.

Why Snail Processing And Packaging Business

A snail packaging company is one that processes snails for commercial and retailing purposes. The peculiar challenges of snail food lovers, who battle with the cleaning of snails before they are cooked, grilled or fried for consumption, are taken care of by snail processing and packaging companies.

The Market For Processed Snail in Snail Business

The market for such a product are, large super stores in Nigeria for instance such as Shop rite, NEXT Shop, Ebeano, Hotels, Joints, Gardens, fast food restaurants such as Genesis fast food, The promise, Mr Biggs, Tantalizers, corporate parties such as weddings, naming/ birthday celebrations etc will be your regular customers. They will only need your assurance of regular supply per week.

There is also good market for snail meat in the international market if only you can do good packaging. You can make millions of naira from this vast and inexhaustible market.

Snail farmers are making huge profit as the global demand for the delicacy increases. In Nigeria the prices of raw, matured snail goes for N350 to N600.Depending on the size.

How to Process and Package Snails

Processing and Marketing of Snails in Snail Business

Snail meat must be processed with care to increase the marketability. There are different ways to process snail meat for both local and international markets. Below are the steps to take:-

– The snail should be starved for about 24 hours in other to empty their stomach.
– Prepare enough quantity of water by boiling at greater than 70 degrees centigrade and transfer into a bucket or drum.
– Add enough lumps of alum (potassium or ammonium aluminum sulphate)
– Transfer the snails into hot water and cover up immediately, After 5 to 10 minutes.
– Open the lid and pour off the resulting dirty from the hot water, Cool under running tap
– With ease, shake off each snail from its shell into clean, cool water.
– Remove offal. wash in two changes of clean cool water
– The packaging can be done in two ways for both local and international markets.

Cellophane: The processed snail can be packaged in a cellophane bag and refrigerated before marketing.

Sun Dry/Cabinet Dryer: You can dry your snail with sun or cabinet dryer to remove the moisture content before marketing, this must be done neatly. Cabinet dryer is most recommended for commercial purpose.

Requirements in Snail Processing (Snail Business)

– Raw material (Snail)
– Water and Alum
– Washing Drum or big plastic bow
– Packaging materials
– Registration of company and with other Agencies
– Dryer optional (Oven Dryer with Gas/Charcoal/Electric)
Customer base

The return on investment in snail business is high as the demand is growing daily because it is a white meat and is highly nutritious. The raw material, which is snail, is rightly available in Nigeria in large quantity as many people are now into snail farming.