Edible coating for fish fillet is the packaging for the future

Nowadays, demand for healthier food is growing hastily and this has pushed scientists to devise a new type of packaging that extend the use of the products and at the same time the products can be recyclable. 

When it comes to seafood sector, food scientists have shown that edible coating makes fish fillet lasts longer and healthier. Edible coating is made by the use of a transparent film that coats the seafood product and it acts as a fence to humidity and oxygen. This type of packaging can be advantageous for seafood processing industries as it prolongs the valuable life of the fish fillet product and probably make them more nourishing by plunging them into an edible, protective coating supplemented with fish oil. 

As per the analysis done by the food science professionals, when the fish fillet was packed with this type of coating, the fish fillet could be kept for two to three days more and was good for consumption. Moreover, the liquid used for coating contains a certain type of element known as Chitosan which comes from crustacean cells. This was used as films for wrapping of fish fillet to prohibit bacteria and fungi from entering and it also extends the storage cycle of the fish fillet. After the coating was done, some of the fish fillets that were used for testing, were keep in refrigerator for three weeks while the remaining were kept frozen for three months.

When the frozen fish fillets were analyzed after a specific amount of days, it was found that amount of omega-3 fatty acids were three times higher in the fish fillets that were coated and kept in refrigerator as compared to  uncoated fish.

Omega-3 fatty acids are vital nutrients found in fish fillet and research recommends that an increase in the omega-3 may have a number of benefits to human health. 

Ref:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060905084809.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090716164346.htm

http://www.seawork.com.na/fish-processing.html

Fish fillet helps to reduce prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a common form of disease that develops in a gland found in male reproductive system.  The number of people suffering from prostate cancer is commonly found all around the world but the United State holds the highest percentage when it comes to this type of cancer.

Prostate cancer is a type of disease that is grown slowly in the male body and it is usually not fatal. However, prostate cancer does kill with enough frequency when certain precautions are not taken. Some men may want to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer and ultimately give way to it. But what’s need to be done? 

While fish is known to have many health benefits, including cutting the risk of heart disease and stroke, the question of whether it could protect against prostate cancer has been "a bit controversial".

A new review of medical literature suggested that consumption of high amount of fish product such as fillet of fish may not protect men from developing cancer but it could reduce the risk of dying from this disease.

They also found that men who ate more fish fillet were 44 percent less likely to develop metastatic prostate cancer. That means the disease that had spread beyond the prostate gland. Higher fish fillet consumption was also associated with a 63 percent lower risk of dying from the disease.

Research has also shown that the omega-3 found in fish species reduce the progression of cancer cells. Some species of fish such as hake fish contain a great quantity of omega-3 fats, mainly in the form of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Fish is known to have many health benefits including the risk of getting stroke and heart disease. Fish products such as fish fillet are highly recommended for consumption as it helps us from developing many types of cancer.

As a recommendation, we suggest men should choose eating fish fillets more often as it could have a major positive impact in public health. 

Ref:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE69649E20101007?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/44009/

http://www.health24.com/news/Prostate/1-941,58832.asp

http://www.seawork.com.na/main-products.html

Classic fish fillet in parsley sauce

Ingredients

·         3 liter of water

·         2 slice lemon

·         1oz flour

·         2 pint full-cream milk

·         2oz fresh parslay, stalks removed and chopped

·         1 ½  tablespoon salt

·         900-1000g  fish fillet

·         4oz  unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Place the water, lemon and salt in a pan and boil for about 8 minutes.

2. Put in the fish fillet and then cook for 5minutes.

3. Take out from the heat and leave it cooking in the cooking liquid.

4. Liquefy 1oz butter in a pan and add over the flour.

5. Stir constantly with a spoon in order to mix and then cook.

6. Slowly pour in the milk and stir constantly to make a smooth sauce. Add 300ml pint of the fish cooking liquid and leave to cook for 15 minutes.

7. Cut the fish fillet into 6 slices.

8. Mix the chopped parsley and the rest of the butter into the sauce.

9.  Pour the sauce over half the fish fillet

10. Serve with some potatoes boiled in salted water and a sprig of mint.

     Ref:

      http://www.seawork.com.na/fish-processing.html

Tips how to fillet your fish

Filleting of fish is a very method in preparing of fish meals. There are several steps that are needed to be followed in order to fillet the fish but spending a little effort at the cleaning process is worth because it contains no bones at the eating stage.

• First you need to have a good knife with a thin and flexible blade for filleting.

• Cut the head of the fish behind the gills. 
• Cut it in a way that the knife touches only the backbone of the fish.
•  Hold the fish by its tail and pass the knife deep along the backbone and dorsal fin. The fish needs to be cut deep enough so that the knife passes through the rib cage. 
• When the knife is no longer in contact with the rib cage, push the knife through the width until the fish fillet is cut off at the tail. 
• The skin of the fish can be removed by inserting the knife near the tail and remove the flesh from the skin.
•  Repeat the same process at the other side.
•  Now you can use your fish fillet in your meals. 

There are some contaminants that are found in fish. Basically, this can be reduced in a fish meal by doing a proper trimming, skinning and cooking of the fish fillet. Cooking does not really remove all the contaminants in the fish but the heats from cooking can melt the certain amount of fats. Thus, baked fish fillet is mostly preferred in fish meals as it contains low fat.

Source: 

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/nutrition-facts-calories/baked-fish

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/filleting-your-fish.html

http://www.seawork.com.na/fish-processing.html

Processing of fish fillet

The production of fish fillet involves a number of steps that are needed to be followed. It starts from pretreatment, filleting of the fish, grading and trimming of the fish fillet till package and storage of the fish fillet. Each of the stages mentioned above take place in different departments in the fish processing plants. However, the production of white fish is different as compared to oily fish. 

Whitefish such as hake has soft white flesh and thus make it easy to fillet. The fish is gutted, trimmed and de-headed. Sometimes this process takes place in the fishing vessel itself. The fish are then place on ice and kept in certain type of boxes before being delivered to the fish processing plants. Upon the arrival at the processing plant, the fish is de-iced and placed in chilled storage until the next processing stage is started. Now, the next step to follow is the pretreatment stage.  Here, the fish are trimmed for blood, bones fins, black membrane, fleas, loose fish scales, de-headed and graded according to the required size. 

After the pretreatment stage, the fish are filleted. This is usually done by mechanical filleting machine but in some processing industries, all fish are hand filleted. Nevertheless, industries which use mechanical filleting machine, the filleting department are generally separated from the pretreatment department in order to ensure that workers from non-sterile pretreatment area are not passing through the sterile filleting care area. The machine which is used for the production of fish fillet, consist of cutting knives which cut the fillet from the backbone and take out the collarbone. Skinning of the fish fillet is done at this stage. After completion of all the above, steps, the fish fillet is processed into different types of end products. This is done as per customers requirements. The hake fillet may be cut into different weight and divided into fish loins, fish fillet tail, etc. 

The fish fillet products are then packed individually in blocks and kept in cold storage.

Source: http://www.hyfoma.com/en/content/food-branches-processing-manufacturing/meat-fish-shrimps/fish-processing/fillet/

 

If you would like to know how fish are filleted by hand, please visit this online video on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqwI4_e1u9o

 

Or visit the website:

http://www.seawork.com.na/main-products.html

Urine in Pangasius fish

Don’t Eat this fish: Pangas (Pangasius, Vietnamese River Cobbler, White Catfish, Gray Sole)

Cheap cheap fish! The above is an ad (from one of the large supermarket chains in France) for the fish known as Pangas (also called, Pangasius, Vietnamese River Cobbler, Basa Fish and White Catfish, Tra, Gray Sole). It was a reminder to tell you about the dangers of this strange but increasingly popular fish. I learned about them and how they’re raised a while ago on an informative documentary online here: Documentary about Pangas. (which is in French. If you don’t speak French, read below.)


Would the French call it Poisson ou poison?
Industrially farmed in Vietnam along the Mekong River, Pangas or whatever they’re calling it, has only been recently introduced to the French market. However, in a very short amount of time, it has grown in popularity in France. The French are slurping up Pangas like it’s their last meal of soup noodles. They are very, very affordable (cheap), are sold in filets with no bones and they have a neutral (bland) flavor and texture; many would compare it to cod and sole, only much cheaper. But as tasty as some people may find it, there’s, in fact, something hugely unsavory about it. I hope the information provided here will serve as very important information for you and your future choices. Here’s why I think it is better left in the shops (and not on your dinner plates):



1. Pangas are teeming with high levels of poisons and bacteria. (industrial effluents, arsenic, and toxic and hazardous by-products of the growing industrial sector, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), metal contaminants, chlordane-related compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB)). The reasons are that the Mekong River is one of the most polluted rivers on the planet and this is where pangas are farmed and industries along the river dump chemicals and industrial waste directly into it. To Note: a friend lab tests these fish and tells us to avoid eating them due to high amounts of contamination. Regardless of the reports and recommendations against selling them, the supermarkets still sell them to the general public knowing they are contaminated.


2. They freeze Pangas in contaminated river water. Ew.

3. Pangas are not environmentally sustainable, a most unsustainable food you could possibly eat– “Buy local” means creating the least amount of environmental harm as possible. This is the very opposite end of the spectrum of sustainable consumerism. Pangas are raised in Vietnam. Pangas are fed food that comes from Peru (more on that below), their hormones (which are injected into the female Pangas) come from China. (More about that below) and finally, they are transported from Vietnam to France. That’s not just a giant carbon foot print, that’s a carbon continent of a foot print.


4. There’s nothing natural about Pangas – They’re fed dead fish remnants and bones, dried and ground into a flour, from South America, manioc (cassava) and residue from soy and grains. This kind of nourishment doesn’t even remotely resemble what they eat in nature. But what it doesresemble is the method of feeding mad cows (cows were fed cows, remember?) What they feed pangas is completely unregulated so there are most likely other dangerous substances and hormones thrown into the mix. The pangas grow at a speed light (practically!): 4 times faster than in nature…so it makes you wonder what exactly is in their food? Your guess is as good as mine.





5. Pangas are Injected with Hormones Derived from Urine – I don’t know how someone came up with this one out but they’ve discovered that if they inject female Pangas with hormones made from the dehydrated urine of pregnant women, the female Pangas grow much quicker and produce eggs faster (one Panga can lay approximately 500,000 eggs at one time). Essentially, they’re injecting fish with hormones (they come all of the way from a pharmaceutical company in China) to speed up the process of growth and reproduction. That isn’t good. Some of you might not mind eating fish injected with dehydrated pee so if you don’t good for you, but just consider the rest of the reasons to NOT eat it.


6. You get what you pay for – and then some. Don’t be lured in by insanely cheap price of Pangas. Is it worth risking your health and the health of your family?


7. Buying Pangas supports unscrupulous, greedy evil corporations and food conglomerates that don’t care about the health and well-being of human beings. They only are concerned about selling as many pangas as possible to unsuspecting consumers. These corporations only care about selling and making more money at whatever cost to the public.


8. Pangas will make you sick – If (for reasons in #1 above) you don’t get immediately ill with vomiting, diarrhea and effects from severe food poisoning, congratulations, you have an iron stomach! But you’re still ingesting POISON not poisson.Final important note: Because of the prodigious amount of availability of Pangas, be warned that they will certainly find their way into other foods: surimi (those pressed fish things, imitation crab sticks), fish sticks, fish terrines, and probably in some pet foods. (Warn your dogs and cats and hamsters and gerbils and even your pet fish!)


Article extracted from:
http://www.dietmindspirit.org/2008/01/30/why-you-shouldnt-eat-this-fish-pangas-pangasius-vietnamese-river-cobbler-white-catfish-gray-sole/

Hake fish fillet good for health

This is an article that will definitely generate some interest as most of the people are weight conscious. I have been looking at how to market Hake but the simple question i asked myself is... Do people know if Hake is good for health? OK, some people don't know that some fish are high in fat like Salmon for example but white fish like Hake is really good for health. While eating a piece of Hake fish I was asked to think about something that will make our blog interesting and what's more interesting than losing weight.

Hake is considered to be good for both man and women. A grilled Hake of 100gms contain only 113 calories, which is perfect to have with some roasted potatoes for the ladies who are following a diet and men as well. But for those who want to gain weight Hake product is perfect as it is high in hormone testosterone. Ladies please don't be afraid, you won't change to become more masculine but just to say that it is really good for muscles.

Basically as Hake is low in fat as it is a whiting fish, the percentage of fat is quite low, but it also depend on what type of cooking techniques you are going to choose. The baked type is the best one, with low fat as less oil is used and it will have a much better taste if the white hake turns into a delicious light brown or gold color. Although we are suppose to promote Seawork processing in this blog we also make sure that people know what type of products they are buying and how to make the most out of it.

If you want more information about hake fish fillet composition please do check our website on:
http://www.seawork.com.na/hake-fillet-skinless.html