Frozen Clam Supplier: Manila and Hard Clams in Shell, Half-Shell or Meat

Product overview

Clams go into pasta, chowder, Asian broths and seafood platters, and the complaint buyers raise most often is grit. A cook may forgive a slightly smaller count but not sand in a finished sauce, so the purging step before processing matters as much as the species. We ask packers how long live clams were held in clean seawater to expel sand, check sand content on thawed samples, and report it per lot alongside count, glaze and shell damage. That gives you evidence to judge a supplier by, rather than a single sample bag sent months before the order.

Manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum), farmed on a very large scale in China and also produced in Korea and Japan, is the volume item: a thin, cross-ribbed and often patterned shell with sweet meat suited to vongole, miso soup and steamed dishes. Asian hard clams of the genus Meretrix, with a smooth, glossy shell, are farmed in China and Southeast Asia and sold whole, on the half-shell or as meat. Southeast Asian fisheries also supply Paphia clams, chiefly the undulated surf clam (Paphia undulata, now classified as Paratapes undulatus), sold in the trade as baby clam and usually shipped as shucked meat or whole cooked clams. The North American hard clam or northern quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria) is available on request, graded by the familiar littleneck, cherrystone and chowder sizes.

Formats include raw whole clams frozen IQF, whole clams cooked and frozen in vacuum pouches, frozen half-shell clams for baked and grilled dishes, and raw or cooked meat frozen IQF or in blocks for chowder, soups and ready meals. Whole clams are graded by pieces per kilogram, for example 40⁠–⁠60 or 60⁠–⁠80, and meat by count per kilogram. Cooked clams should open fully during processing, so the share of closed or broken shells is recorded together with the glaze level. Chilled supply of some clam species can be air-freighted on short routes, subject to harvest openings.

Clams feed by filtering seawater, so they can accumulate marine biotoxins and pick up bacteria and viruses wherever growing waters are affected. Harvest-area classification details accompany each shipment, and testing for the PSP, ASP and DSP groups and for microbiology is arranged against your market’s limits, with reports tied to lot codes as described under export quality assurance. For dried clam meat used in stocks and congee, see dried clams, and for the large clams sliced for sushi, see frozen surf clam.