Victoria Brand Lobster meat tastes like lobster should. We count on this for our discerning restaurant customers, where taste, texture and consistency are of utmost importance. - Craig MacDonald, KMI Seafoods
The Plant
Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd. Processing Plant is located in the beautiful village of New Haven, Nova Scotia. In addition to the production areas, there are two Blast Freezers, and one Cold Holding Freezer. Due to our remote location we require extra holding capacity, therefore, we have six refrigerated containers on site. We have a completely functioning in-house lab that enables us to test our products prior to shipping.
The plant employs 85-100 employees during the snow crab and lobster seasons. We have the capability of producing over 70,000 pounds of snow crab per shift, and over 20,000 pounds of lobster per shift. In the Fall season, Mackerel is frozen to be used in the spring as bait.
Also located on the grounds is a Lobster Holding Facility. This facility, along with two outside systems, has the capacity to hold 257,000 pounds of live lobster. This is a great asset to the company. It allows us to employ more people, hold lobster longer for shipping, and to extend processing time.
Over the past several years there have been many upgrades to the processing facility. All rooms have been upgraded, new machinery has been purchased and extensive upgrading has been completed to the refrigeration system, to name a few. The lobster pound has also under gone many renovations. The latest being the addition of a second outside pound completed in the fall of 2013.
We are currently operating as an approved facility under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA); with whom we work closely to ensure we are doing everything necessary to meet, and exceed, the standards set out in the CFIA Regulations.