New technology turns the whole fish into nutr
In the meat industry, it is common to turn around the whole animal into food products. In the fishing industry, more than half of the fish’s weight ends up as tributaries that never reach our plates. This takes a heavy toll on the environment and is out of step with Swedish food and fishing strategies. Now, food researchers at Chalmers University of Technology are introducing a new sorting technology that gives us five good cuts from fish and not just fillets. A herring processing plant on Sweden’s west coast is already implementing the new method.
When the fillet itself is removed from a fish, valuable side streams remain that can be turned into products such as nuggets, minced meat, protein isolates or omega-3-rich oils. Despite such great potential, these products leave the food chain to become animal feed or in the worst case discarded. In order to utilize valuable nutrients and switch to more sustainable procedures, the way we process fish must change.
All cuts are treated with care
“With our new sorting method, the whole fish is treated with the same care as the fillet. The focus is on preserving the quality throughout the entire value chain. Instead of putting the various side streams in a single container to become by-products, they are handled separately, just like in the meat industry,” says research leader Ingrid Undeland, professor of food science at the Department of Biology and Biological Technology at Chalmers.
The research was carried out as part of an international project called Waseabi. The Chalmers researchers recently published their results in the scientific journal Food Chemistry.
“Our study shows that this type of sorting technique is important, especially as it means that we can avoid very delicate side stream sections being mixed with the more stable cuts. This new method provides new opportunities to produce high-quality food,” says Chalmers researcher Haizhou Wu. first author of the scientific article.
“There is interest”
The new sorting method for separating the five different cuts is introduced at one of the partner companies in the research project. Fish processing company, Sweden Pelagic in Ellös on Orust, already uses parts of the method in its production and has had good results.
“Sorting technology gives us many more opportunities to develop healthy, new and tasty foods and to expand our product range. This year we estimate that we will produce about 200-300 tons of minced meat from one of the new cuts and we aim to increase that number. from year to year.The interest is there, in the food industry and public meal production such as school catering, says Martin Kuhlin, CEO of Sweden Pelagic.
About the study and opportunities for the fishing industry
- The new sorting technology allows the fillet, spine, tail fin, head, abdominal flap and intestines to be separated. The spine and head are mostly muscular and are therefore well suited to become minced fish or protein ingredients. Because the abdominal flap and intestines are rich in marine omega-3, they can be used for oil production. The tail fin has a lot of skin, bones and connective tissue and is therefore well suited for such things as producing marine collagen, a highly sought-after ingredient on the market right now. In addition to food, marine collagen is also used in cosmetics and “nutraceuticals”, with documented good effects on the health of our joints and skin.
- The EU fish processing industry is significant and generates an annual turnover of almost EUR 28 billion, while employing over 122,000 people. But the industry faces several challenges. For example, an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of by-products from shellfish are produced in Europe, based on a production of 5.1 million tonnes of caught fish. In Sweden, it has been estimated that 30,000-60,000 tonnes of tributaries from shellfish are generated annually; about 35-70 times more than the Swedish cod catch. This means that the current utilization of aquatic biomass for food is far too low. In the production of fillets, up to 70 percent of the aquatic resources end up as sidestreams, which are either used for low-value products such as animal feed or discarded, which takes a heavy toll on the environment and sometimes even the companies involved.
For more information please contact:
Ingrid Undeland, Professor of Food Science, Department of Biology and Biological Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
+46 73 708 08 64, [email protected]
Martin Kuhlin, CEO of Sweden Pelagic,
+46 70 966 65 68, [email protected]
More about EU: s Waseabi project
Waseabi is a four-year interdisciplinary project that aims to make better use of sidestream products in the shellfish industry by stabilizing them and developing new methods of producing food. The project involves thirteen partners from five European countries. In addition to Chalmers, two companies from Sweden are participating; Sweden Pelagic and Alfa Laval. International partners are the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Food & Bio Cluster, Denmark, AZTI, EIT Food, Royal Greenland, Pescados Marcelino, Jeka Fish, Children, Nutrition Sciences and Ghent University.
The project is funded by Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) in the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement no. 837726. JU is supported by the research and innovation program Horizon 2020 and the Bio Based Industries Consortium.
Read about an earlier research progress from the project: New dipping solution makes the whole fish valuable food
Method of research
Experimental study
Research topic
Not applicable
Article title
Lipid oxidation in sorted herring (Clupea harengus) filleting by-products from two seasons and its relationship to composition
Date of publication of the article
March 30, 2022
COI statement
The authors explain that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that may have seemed to affect the work presented in this article.
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