Bring new technology to process seafood cakes

Quang Binh has the advantage of the sea, and the annual fishing output is vast. The seafood in this locality is appreciated for its deliciousness and quality. However, there is currently no processing plant or seafood processing technology in the area.

Understanding this demand, Long Giang Thinh Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company (Vinh Ninh Commune, Quang Ninh District, Quang Binh Province), in collaboration with the Seafood Research Institute, has implemented the project "Application of production technology to produce high-quality seafood cakes to ensure food safety".

According to Le Van Tho, Director of Long Giang Thinh Investment and Consulting Joint Stock Company (Long Giang Thinh Company), the goal of the project is to perfect the production process of seafood rolls (shrimp, fish, squid) application of gel-forming technology suitable to the production conditions of the enterprise.

“From the application of technology, we create high-quality seafood products to serve consumers with the specialties of Quang Binh Sea with quality criteria put on top,” said Mr. Tho.

In the first phase, the production scale of the project is 100kg of raw materials/batch. The project has completed the production process of fish cakes, squid cakes, and shrimp cakes using gel-forming technology suitable to the production conditions of enterprises.

Engineer Le Minh Chung, Project Manager, said that fish cakes would be preliminarily processed to remove inedible parts, treated in an environment with salt and organic acids to remove the fishy smell, mixed into seasoning (pepper, onion, salt, sugar, dill).

"The specifications are perfected, such as the percentage of added starch 1-1.5%, the grinding and brushing time is 6-8 minutes, the gel incubation time is 2-3 hours," said engineer Chung.

For shrimp cakes, after being preliminarily processed, the specifications are completed such as the main ingredients are determined 30% shrimp, 70% fish, percentage of added starch 2 - 2.5%, percentage Enzyme ratio 0.4%, grinding and brushing time 10 minutes, gel incubation time 2 - 3 hours.

"The production technology of squid cakes is similar to fish and shrimp cakes. The most basic is that we have perfected and trialed seafood rolls at the scale from 20 to 100kg/batch; has completed the construction of the technological process and equipment model for producing seafood cakes," added engineer Chung.

Also, according to engineer Chung, the production process of 3 lines of seafood cakes has precise specifications and simple steps. It is suitable for the production and labor conditions of the enterprise. The factory and production equipment model is deployed on a workshop area of 240m2, with 4 production rooms with appropriate tools, equipment, and human resources.

The project produced nearly 650kg of products during the trial production phase. According to the evaluation of customers who have tried the product, fish cakes, shrimp cakes, and squid cakes have good sensory quality, toughness, crunchiness, and high nutritional content. Engineer Chung added that during the production process, food safety criteria for microorganisms and heavy metals were met by current regulations of the Ministry of Health.

Le Van Tho, Director of Long Giang Thinh Company, said that the quality of fish cakes, shrimp cakes, and squid cakes are equivalent to products of Ha Long squid cakes, Hai Phong mackerel cakes currently on the market.

The expected selling price of fish, shrimp, and squid cakes is from VND 340,000 to VND 500,000/kg, equivalent to the price of similar products on the market. However, the project's products are superior in quality and food safety. If the fish cake factory operates at 100% capacity, there is potential for development and commercialization in the market,” said Director Tho.

In addition, to create human resources, the Company organized two training courses, training in seafood production techniques for ten technical staff (training at the Seafood Research Institute) and 30 direct production workers.

Quang Binh is a province with a large fishing and aquaculture production in the central region. However, in the province, the factories and seafood processing establishments for preliminary processing and processing of value-added products from aquatic products are still quite limited, most of which are small production establishments having household sizes.

The application of high-quality seafood production technology to ensure food safety is significant. In addition to solving and stabilizing the output of seafood sources in the province and some neighboring areas in the Central region, it also creates jobs and contributes to the development of the local economy.