At Frontline Food Consultants and Engineers, we provide professional consultancy services in order to offer you better quality fresh fish products. Every one of these products should also offer the consumers the expected qualities of freshness, taste, and safety. Fish is one of those products that need to be handled, processed, and distributed in the market and subjected to minimal handling and processing.

Our New Product Development services guide you on making a start to a new fish product business that will meet a certain market need while prioritizing quality and sustainable fish production. To emphasize on handling and packaging of the fish it undergoes process improvement to enhance the quality of the fish and its nutritional value during processing. Our Technological Support includes chilling and preservation technologies including supercooling technology and vacuum packaging which are crucial for further fresh fish shelf life without deterioration.

We also pay special attention to Regulation Compliance & Documentation so that the fresh fish products that you supply to the global market are in compliance with hygiene and food safety regulations. Our Audits & Training services keep your level of processing facilities at the required level. Furthermore, we can help out with the drafting of the Logistics Planning regarding the cold chain from the processing plant down to the market. We offer a full continuum of services for your products and take them to market. 

What is Fresh Fish?

New fish products relate to fish that is sold and consumed within a relatively very short time after it has been harvested. The principal factor in the freshness of fresh fish lies in how the product is dealt with in terms of handling, processing, and transportation. This involves critical processes such as the first processing which involves chilling the fish after a catch followed by proper throating or grilling and storing the fish in a cold chain all along the transportation period.

To establish the facility for fresh fish production, there must be an understanding of the factors affecting the fish from the point it is caught up to the point it appears in the market. Major equipment consists of rapid chillers also known as supercooling where the fish is placed in order to achieve the right temperature to slow the rate of spoilage. Other required equipment having to do with filleting and cleaning also helps in ensuring that the fish is processed in the best ways possible in terms of hygiene as well as speeding up the process. Fresh fish tend to stay longer on the shelves through vacuum packaging machines due to a reduction in exposure to both air and contamination.

Types of Fresh Fish 

Fresh fish is categorized into various types based on species, water habitat, and culinary applications:

White Fish:

  • Profile: Mild flavor, firm texture.
  • Examples: Halibut, cod, haddock, pollock, tilapia.
  • Applications: Best suited to shallow and deep fry, grilling, roasting and stewing.

Oily Fish:

  • Profile: Good taste and also contains the Omega 3 fat acids.
  • Examples: The main ones include salmon fish, mackerel fish, sardines, trout fish.
  • Applications: Good for smoking, grilling, broiling and for marinating.

Shellfish:

  • Profile: Different kinds or types of tastes, which are sometimes less strong or intense.
  • Examples: There are shrimp, lobster, crab and scallop dishes.
  • Applications: An ideal foliage for steaming, boiling grilling and sautéing.

Exotic and Specialty Fish:

  • Profile: It is a specific type of food or an ingredient where the food is characterized by the uniqueness of flavors and textures of a particular food – and they can even be from certain geographical zones.
  • Examples: Lobsters, crabs, crayfish, clams, oysters and mussels, prawns, shrimp, mackerel, salmon, cod, turkey; sea bass, monkfish, and swordfish.
  • Applications: Preferred in restaurants and luxurious foods and other royal occasion delicacies.

The Manufacturing Process of Fresh Fish 

Every fresh fish that is meant to be consumed by humans has to undergo a rigorous process.

Fishing and Harvesting

  • Objective: This indicates that new fish supply should be obtained through catch from the sea in an ethical and environmentally friendly manner.
  • Process: Methods that are used include trawling, longlining and aquaculture in mass production of the fish. Prolific measures are applied to maintain the stocks of fish and the environment.

Transportation and Storage

  • Objective: Keep the fish in their freshest and best quality as possible.
  • Process: Fish is quickly cooled onboard by the use of ice or reefer systems. It’s then moved to the processing plants under carefully observed temperatures to ensure that does not go off before being processed.

Sorting and Grading

  • Objective: Sort fish according to size of fish, type of fish, and quality of the fish.
  • Process: According to the market trends, fish are sorted and graded to have the same size and quality on the market. This is done by feeling parts of the skin that are touching the ground and looking at the eyes, the feel of the flesh, and the smell.

Processing and Cleaning

  • Objective: Process fish for the market or for other processing units of the fish industry.
  • Process: Fish are opened only through the belly or gills and cleaned from internal organs and the head or bones of the rib cage. This step is done in a very clean environment to avoid the effects of contamination on the final product.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

  • Objective: Adopt strict health and safety measures to be followed.
  • Process: Sensory quality checks as well as Microbiological quality checks are done starting from the raw material level and extending through the processed finished products. This helps in that the fish has to meet the set standards before heading for the market and processing of food for human consumption.

Packaging and Labeling

  • Objective: Preserve the product, or rather information, and supply ineffectual data.
  • Process: To promote good quality fresh fish is wrapped in appropriate materials like vacuum-packed bags or in ice packs. They range from species name, weight, and country of origin, to the dates when the nuts were harvested.

Packaging of Fresh Fish 

Packing is crucial for the conservation of the state of freshness, and therefore safety for fresh fish. It also plays a significant role in the shelf life of the product which in turn cuts down the wastage taking its place in quality production.

Vacuum Packaging

  • Objective: Reduce air contact and obtain increased product shelf-life.
  • Materials: Micromolecular films that ensure a high degree of barrier against oxygen and moisture.
  • Benefits: Preserves the quality of fish by minimizing on oxidation and bacterial activities.

Ice Packs and Gel Packs

  • Objective: Ensure proper storage procedures from processing, distribution and even by the retailer.
  • Materials: Well, involving reusable ice packs, gel packs or crushed ice.
  • Benefits: Maintains adequate supply temperatures during transport and afterwards so as to avoid spoiling of the fish.
  • package; Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP); Modified atmosphere packaging
  • Objective: Maintain food quality and increase product life.
  • Materials: Flexible intermediate bulk containers with a modified atmosphere, for example low oxygen and high carbon dioxide content.
  • Benefits: The process also helps to slow down the spoilage processes and also retain the natural skin also color of the fish.

Green Packaging

  • Objective: Reduce environmental impact.
  • Materials: Modifications to packaging to make them recyclable and biodegradable.
  • Benefits: Green consumables that are popular with the environmentally conscious customer and waste less.