Contact
Gunnar Þórðarson
Regional Manager
gunnar.thordarson@matis.is
New technology to increase the value of catfish catches
The purpose of the project was to adapt processing to supercooled raw materials, to ensure the homogeneity of raw materials with the aim of improving product quality, increasing utilization and minimizing fillet defects. In the project, a new type of skinning machine was developed and then tested under real conditions. Comparison of supercooled and traditional (frozen) ingredients. Supercooled raw material is stiffer than conventional, and the same can be said for fillets cooled after filleting to ensure packing in fresh packages at low temperatures, preferably below 0 ° C. Traditional skinning machines have not been able to handle such raw material, but the new machine has already been put into use and is proving successful. A comparative experiment was carried out between super-chilled haddock that was six days old and traditional raw material from the same catch. Subsequently, a comparative study was conducted on cod, made from super-chilled and conventional raw materials. Utilization, fillet quality and defects were compared, as well as product division after cutting into fillet pieces, as well as temperature processes during processing in both groups. The results were very good for supercooled raw materials, both in terms of quality, utilization and temperature of products.
The purpose of the project was to customize processing of sub-chilled raw materials to ensure uniformity of raw materials with the aim of improving product quality, increasing utilization and minimizing fillet defects. A new skinning machine for demersal fish was designed and tested in this project, especially to work with sub-chilled raw material. Sub-chilled raw material is more rigid than traditional raw material and can withstand more handling and give better quality of the finished product. Sub-chilled raw material also provides lower product temperature in packed fresh fish production, at 0 ° C or even below it. Traditional skinning machines have not been able to handle sub-chilled fillets. A comparative experiment with six-day old haddock where sub-chilled raw material were compared with traditional one, from same catch, were processed. Built on that outcome a follow-up, a comparative study of cod was processed with sub-chilled and traditional raw material. In both experiments a comparison of yield, fillets quality, fillets defects and temperature throughout the production into final packaging were recorded. The results were excellent in favor of sub-chilled raw material, both in terms of quality, yield and temperature of products.
