The use of an enzyme saves a lot of time in cleaning the liver before canning, but the enzyme dissolves the membrane on the surface of the liver and thereby releases the snakes that have prepared themselves under it. Until now, this grooming has had to be done by hand, which is very time consuming.
Matís has in collaboration with the canning factory Ice-w ehf. and Martak ehf. worked on the design and development of equipment in the processing process for enzyme treatment of liver for canning, as well as equipment for brine pickling. The aim of the project, supported by the ACP Fund, is to increase the profitability of the production of canned liver by reducing production costs and increasing the quality of products, as well as increasing the automation of production.
Enzyme treatment of the liver saves both time and manpower by cleansing the membrane and worms of the liver surface. However, it is never possible to avoid any trimming of the liver as a vein to the liver and bile-stained liver must be removed before enzyme treatment.
The design of the equipment has been completed and experiments have been made during the production process. Roughly speaking, the processing process is structured so that the liver goes to a dressing table for pre-trimming. The liver is then fed into a conveyor belt and then into a vessel with enzyme solution and the solution is circulated from a side vessel. The liver is then fed to a saline brine and from there to a dispenser that dispenses the liver into cans. Then take over the traditional canning.
The results of experiments have shown that it is possible to increase the capacity to a significant extent, in addition to which utilization increased by 20%. In 2007, about 900 tonnes of canned liver were produced in Iceland, or 9 million cans, and the value of these exports was almost ISK 320 million. This new enzyme processing method can increase this value by 20-30%.
Further information can be obtained from Ásbjörn Jónsson, project manager at Matís.