Source: JBT FoodTech Press Release
The challenging economic situation experienced on a worldwide level is heavily affecting the seafood market; in fact, while the costs of oil, labor and raw materials (tuna, oil, packaging, etc.) are constantly rising, the quantity of tuna caught is expected to remain unchanged. This makes processors increasingly more alert regarding the need to cut costs and increase productivity and yield while not tarnishing quality standards.
These factors have prompted JBT FoodTech to broaden its R&D department, making available a 250m2 area for the installation of a pilot plant and the implementation of an experimental laboratory. The ability to use a pilot plant to reproduce the conditions found in industrial scale systems favors investigation of new technologies and an in-depth study of the problems related to this sector.
A typical example is our pilot vacuum cooker, featuring exactly the same instruments as the industrial-scale unit. This feature allows easier comparison between the yields and the type of cooking or cooling adopted (initial BBT, cooking temperature, final BBT, vacuum, etc). Customers can quickly compare their own standard recipes with experimental recipes for both cooking and cooling.
With regards to cooking, JBT FoodTech adopts a mathematical model, the TunaCAL, which enables easy localization of the recipe to be run as a function of the raw material actually being used (species, dimensions, initial T°, conductivity, final BBT, etc). The presence of a food technologist as well as of technicians experienced in the seafood sector also enables JBT FoodTech the ability to provide customers with consultancy and cooperation in the development of research projects.
The study of the recipe adopted for fish cooking is brought about as a function of the dimensions, origins, fishing location, and season. Other parameters, such as sodium chloride, moisture and fat percentage, are checked as well. Using this system the recipe can be modified as a function of the actual raw material characteristics whereas in the past, fixed schedules were adopted according to the Processor’s prior experience and a set of static cooking parameters (T° and time) as a function of fish dimensions and type of cut.
Producers of tuna preserves must focus their energies on the staff involved in production, mainly in thawing and cooking. Monitoring all the parameters, including the fish variables, is essential in order to select the proper recipe and increase yields. Frequent analysis of the system permits timely adjustments which lead to better final results.
The most important parameters to know are as follows:
BBT initial temperature (back-bone) of the fish
Initial vacuum which determines the minimum cooking temperature for processing
Cooking temperature
After-cooking BBT: this parameter considerably affects the fish end texture and will be selected as a function of the product to be obtained, hence of the corporate Specifications;
Cooling
Conditioning
Parameters monitored after cooking:
Cooking loss: the percentage of liquids lost in the cooking stage
Moisture: after the cooking stage and after the conditioning stage
Drained weight
Texture
Thawing
Another very important step which requires monitoring is the thawing process. Several points of yield may be lost if thawing is not handled correctly.
The type of thawing is selected according to several criteria, including the availability of water, space, etc. Some types of thawing include:
Room temperature
Room temperature with water sprays
Water (immersion or waterfall and recycling)
Rooms with different temperature sequences
Thawing is a very crucial stage since a gap between the inside and outside temperature of the fish could lead to overcooking on the outside, thus increasing cooking losses.
Evisceration:
JBT FoodTech is carrying out various studies to check whether the evisceration of Skipjack prior to cooking can affect the final yield.
The increased demands for high-performance systems and ever increasing processing costs have urged our customers to ask for our cooperation in the modernization of tuna processing lines. JBT FoodTech, together with our customers, is in an ideal position to study the best solutions for the implementation, improvement and modification of existing processes as well as to develop new, mission critical processes.
www.jbtfoodtech.com
