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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.

Schillerlocken (curled strips of smoked spiny dogfish) used to be an ever-present delicacy in the counters of German fishmongers, and their presence was taken for granted. Because the dogfish stock in the North East Atlantic is overfished, however, an increasing number of grocery chains no longer lists the products of this presumably endangered species.

Deepchill, the trademarked name for a product developed by the Canadian company Sunwell Technologies, is a cooling and preservation medium comprised of millions of ice micro-crystals suspended in a liquid solution to form an ice slurry. The micro-crystals surround the entire surface area of the product being cooled, giving it the ability to chill at least three times faster, and store a few degrees colder for a longer period than conventional ice. The slurry also suspends and protects the product from bruising, bacterial growth and tissue degradation.

Jens Møller from Denmark holds a patent for the production of caviar imitation from seaweed. His company of the same name is based in Lemvig and can produce about six tonnes of the product per day. It is traded internationally mainly under the brand name Cavi-Art.

Heiko Lenk employs about 20 people in Asia and Europe who together took care of about 8,500 tonnes of product in 2008. Asia is one of the most important regions for buying and processing fish and seafood. Heiko Lenk recognized this fact early on and set up his own service company in Thailand to offer support during procurement of seafood.

Packaging, labelling and trouble shooting are services that co-packer Best Harvest offers to the food industry and trade. The company’s four lines can pack fish fingers just as easily as fillets in tubular bags or cartons (top or end load). Best Harvest also develops special machines for solving individual problems.

The defrosting of frozen raw materials is an everyday routine in fish processing companies. Although it is a highly sensitive process which has an influence on raw material yield and product quality it is rarely paid the attention it deserves. In other words, there are some reserves here, particularly since the defrosting process often proves to be a “technological bottleneck” within operational production procedures.