Processing

Danish fish processing equipment manufacturers have for many years been at the forefront of developments in their field. As the world became more globalised Danish processors needed to automate their operations in order to stay competitive.

Cold preserves and maintains the quality of numerous products and protects them against premature spoilage. Ice is a reliable coolant that has been put to good use for centuries for cooling fish and seafood both on and off shore. But not all ice is the same… There are various different kinds of ice that vary with regard to temperature, consistency and other characteristics. Which ice is best suited to which application?

In the past, labels served only as a means of informing customers on the type, ingredients and price of a product. Today, however, they have to fulfil many more functions. They help streamline stock-keeping and enable product traceability within the supply chain, they protect against theft and simplify payment at the checkout. New technical developments are making labels increasingly efficient and attractive.

Fish processing for human consumption generates huge quantities of waste raw materials, which are used both in Poland and worldwide as raw materials for the production of fish meal or as ingredients in the feeds of animals, bred for their fur, or fish. There is evidence to suggest that these waste raw material can be used more rationally as products intended for people, rather than as fodder.

Established in 1979 in the Daruvar region of Central Croatia, Irida was the first and the largest fish processing plant on the Croatian mainland. Initially occupied with primary processing, branding, and freezing of freshwater fish, Irida in the past decade has expanded into processing marine fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, molluscs and other fish and seafood products. In 2002 Irida became part of Ledo, one of the biggest frozen food manufacturers in Southern Europe. Ledo is now the main brand of the company along with Irida, KPlus and others. The owner of the company is the Agrokor Group, one of the largest privately held companies in Croatia with 40,000 employees.

Situated along the river Ilova, Ribnjačarstvo Končanica is one of the oldest fish farms in Croatia. The first ponds were hand-made by Hungarian and Czech specialists in 1900.

For two centuries, tin cans and jars proved to be an excellent way of preserving foods safely over a long period of time. In the meantime, however, more and more food products are appearing on the market packed in other materials, especially plastics in bag or can format.

The usability and economic value of a lot of products – including foods – depend heavily on whether certain temperatures are maintained during their transport and storage. Deviations not only shorten a product’s shelf life but can also lead to its premature spoilage. But what possibilities are there for controlling continuous adherence to the required temperature?

We have known for a century that extremely high pressure has a sterilising effect. But only today is technology so advanced that this effect can be put into practice. High pressure processing (HPP) not only extends the shelf-life of foods but also enables the meat of raw shellfish and crustaceans to be removed from the shell completely and still intact. The result: higher yield.

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.