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Aquainnova was a research project led by the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATiP) and was partly funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme.…

More than 90 million tonnes of fish and seafood are available every year from the fisheries sector, plus a further 50 million tonnes from aquaculture. Only about half of these huge quantities is used directly for human consumption, however. The other half – waste from gutting, trimmings and spoiled fish – finishes up in fishmeal or is disposed of otherwise. But this is misuse because even what is considered to be “waste” has a high potential.

The share of processed fish products on the market is growing constantly. Jobs that used to be carried out by hand are today performed more and more often by machines. In the meantime there are not only machines for the more basic work such as removing scales and slime but also for highly sensitive processes like filleting, fillet trimming or exact portioning

A manufacturer of autoclaves for the food and pharmaceutical industries Steriflow SAS is a 35-year old company whose equipment is used around the world. In 2005 Steriflow SAS licensed the Shaka technology which was invented in the UK. Using this technique the product is vigorously shaken while in the autoclave. The frequency of the shaking is 100-150 cycles per minute and this movement increased the penetration of heat into the product thereby allowing a reduction in the cycle time compared to regular autoclaves. The equipment can be used with any kind of container including cans, glass jars, pouches, and plastic trays.

Whether it’s herring from the North Atlantic, shrimps from Asian farms, or hake from the southernmost point of Africa, a lot of seafood products are traded frozen. Before they can be further processed they have to be thawed. In industry, special defrosters are used to do this. They are based on different technologies and for this reason alone there is no “ideal” technique that fulfils all requirements.