Fish Processing - Overview

Overview

Fish is a highly perishable food which needs proper handling and preservation if it is to have a long shelf life and retain a desirable quality and nutritional value. The central concern of fish processing is to prevent fish from deteriorating. The most obvious method for preserving the quality of fish is to keep them alive until they are ready for cooking and eating. For thousands of years, China achieved this through the aquaculture of carp. Other methods used to preserve fish and fish products include

• the control of temperature using ice, refrigeration or freezing
• the control of water activity by drying, salting, smoking or freeze-drying
• the physical control of microbial loads through microwave heating or ionizing irradiation
• the chemical control of microbial loads by adding acids
• oxygen deprivation, such as vacuum packing.

Usually more than one of these methods is used. When chilled or frozen fish or fish products are transported by road, rail, sea or air, the cold chain must be maintained. This requires insulated containers or transport vehicles and adequate refrigeration. Modern shipping containers can combine refrigeration with a controlled atmosphere.

Fish processing is also concerned with proper waste management and with adding value to fish products. There is an increasing demand for ready to eat fish products, or products that don't need much preparation.