Guides / Specification

Every shrimp processing form explained, and which one your recipe needs

September 27, 2026

Size grade sets most of a shrimp quote. Processing form sets most of the rest, and it is the field buyers get wrong most often, because a spec sheet abbreviation like PDTO or EZP means nothing until someone tells you.

This guide runs through every common form from least worked to most, the yield loss each one carries, and how to read the shorthand a Vietnam processor puts on a quotation.

The forms, from least worked to most

Form	Full name	What is removed	Typical use
HOSO	Head on, shell on	Nothing	Whole-shrimp retail, Asian foodservice, block export
HLSO	Headless, shell on	Head	Export baseline, bulk retail and foodservice
EZ-peel	Easy peel	Shell scored, not removed	Consumer boil-and-peel retail packs
PUD	Peeled, undeveined	Shell	Bulk foodservice, further processing input
PD	Peeled and deveined	Shell, vein	Retail bags, salad and pasta packs
PDTO	Peeled, deveined, tail on	Shell, vein, tail kept	Foodservice presentation, cocktail and skewer packs
Butterfly	Split and flattened, tail on	Shell, vein, back split open	Restaurant plating, breaded value-add base
Cooked	Any of the above, heat treated	Raw state	Retail cooked and peeled, salad, sushi-grade lines
Breaded or value-add	Coated, formed or stuffed	Raw state	Retail freezer aisle, quick-service foodservice

HOSO and HLSO both keep the shell, so they travel and thaw well without the flesh drying out. Everything past PUD is a labour step done by hand on a processing line, and every hand step is priced into the quote.

Why the form moves your landed cost more than people expect

Each step past head-on removes tissue that you already paid for at the pond. A plant quoting HOSO at a given price per kilogram and PD at a much higher price per kilogram is not marking up the same shrimp. It is selling you less shrimp per kilogram of finished product, plus the labour to get there.

Two things follow from this.

Compare like to like, or convert. An HLSO quote and a PD quote from two different plants tell you nothing side by side. Either ask both plants to quote the same form, or ask for the yield percentage from raw material to finished product so you can convert both to a cost per kilogram of edible meat.

Yield loss is directional, not fixed. Peeling, deveining and tail removal each take a bite out of gross weight, and the exact percentage moves with shrimp size, the plant’s line setup and how the vein is cleaned. A large grade loses proportionally less to peeling than a small grade, because the shell is a smaller share of total mass. Ask your shortlisted plant for its own yield figure on your size grade rather than applying one number across every form and size.

Matching the form to what you actually sell

Retail bags, boil-in-bag and salad kits. PD or PUD is the common choice. Consumers do not want to devein at home, and a clean PD pack sells at a premium that covers the extra labour.

Foodservice plating and cocktail rings. PDTO or butterfly. The tail stays on for presentation, and butterfly is specified when the kitchen wants the shrimp to lie flat and cook evenly.

Whole-shrimp and Asian foodservice. HOSO. The head carries flavour that some cuisines specifically want, and buyers in these channels often prefer to see the whole animal as a quality signal.

Value-add and quick-service. Cooked, breaded, or a further-processed line like popcorn shrimp or shrimp skewers. This is where a plant’s own equipment and food technologist matter as much as the base processing form, because the coating, batter or stuffing is where most of the differentiation and most of the price sits.

Retail cooked-and-peeled. Cooked PD. This form needs its own HACCP control point for the cook step and a chiller line rated for it, so not every HLSO-focused plant runs it well. Ask specifically whether cooked product is a line the plant runs daily or an occasional job.

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Reading the rest of the abbreviation

A few more shorthand terms show up next to the processing form on a spec sheet or quotation.

• IQF, individually quick frozen. Pieces freeze separately and pour loose from the bag. This is the default for retail and foodservice bags.
• Block, frozen as a solid layer in a carton. Cheaper to produce, common for bulk HOSO and further-processing input, awkward for a consumer to portion.
• Semi-IQF, a middle format, frozen loose but in smaller clusters than true IQF. Less common, worth confirming with a sample if a plant offers it.
• CPTO, cooked, peeled, tail on. The cooked equivalent of PDTO, and a common cocktail shrimp specification.
• Skewer or brochette, product threaded on a stick before freezing, a value-add form rather than a processing form on its own.

None of these terms are standardised by a single body, so the same word can mean a slightly different cut or freeze method between two plants. A sample is the only way to confirm a form matches what you had in mind, and it is worth doing before the first full container regardless of how clear the spec sheet reads.

Putting it in the request

State species, size grade and processing form together, in that order, and the plant reading your enquiry knows exactly what it is pricing: for example whiteleg 21/25 PD IQF, or black tiger 16/20 HLSO block. Add the pack format and glaze percentage from there and you have removed most of the ambiguity that turns a first enquiry into three rounds of clarifying emails.

See also: frozen shrimp product forms, from HOSO to cooked.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• US retail shrimp labels: what the origin, farm-raised and net weight statements must say
• Shrimp skewers from a Vietnam supplier: the spec lines for retail and foodservice