TECHNOLOGY FOR CONTROLLING NET WEIGHT OF FISH FILLETS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0211641
• Grant No.: 2007-33610-18617
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $328,085.00
• Proposal No.: 2007-02714
• Project Start Date: Sep 15, 2007
• Project End Date: Sep 14, 2009
• Grant Year: 2007
• Program Code: [8.5]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
DANTECH ENGINEERING, INC.
605 THORNHILL ROAD
DANVILLE,CA 94526

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Production of fish fillets results in cut-offs of high nutritional value but of little commercial value. The project purpose is to develop a technology that can incorporate the currently wasted meat into the fillet production.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

50%

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
501	0899	2020	60%
501	3712	2020	20%
501	3719	2020	10%
501	3899	2020	10%

Knowledge Area
501 - New and Improved Food Processing Technologies;

Subject Of Investigation
3719 - Other cultured finfish; 3899 - Other animals, general; 0899 - Wildlife and natural fisheries, general/other; 3712 - Salmon;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

fish

fillet

yield

recovery

injection

weigth

control;

Goals / Objectives
Processing of fish into fillets and in further processing into consumer portion packs results a significant amount of fish muscle being discarded. Although the quality of this discarded meat is equal to that of the fillet, the odd shapes and bone content makes it unusable directly in the production of fillets. The discards can amount from 10 to 30% of the produced finished fillet weight, and the goal of this proposal is to develop an injection technology that can recover these residuals for inclusion into the fillets.

Project Methods
The current available injection technologies are designed for handling of thin liquids (watery solutions). The proposed technology offers a radically different design in order to achieve treatments that simulate the natural muscle flake of the fillets.

Progress 09/15/07 to 09/14/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The activities have involved development of a second generation prototype suitable for on-line installation. While the first generation prototype was pneumatically operated (Phase I,) the second generation is based on electrically driven stepping motors. The advantage being a faster and fully controllable injection cycle when tied to a PLC/microprocessor. Several injector drive systems have been tested and a rotary eccentric was found to give the shortest injection interval. Several needle designs were considered and a self cleaning needle design has evolved from these efforts. The needle design and feeding system has been tested and demonstrated at Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Kodiak, Alaska and Alaska Pacific Seafoods, Kodiak, Alaska. These tests were conducted utilizing the initial prototype. The second generation prototype was tested at Chesapeake Fish Company, San Diego, California. Further collaboration and developments are planned with this company before shipment of the unit to Alaskan Seafood Processors. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
During the testing it became evident that a hypodermic needle could cause penetration of the fish fillet, and a "side-port" injection pattern would be preferable. The traditional side-port needle design, however, was not suitable do to clogging by muscle fibers. This led to a needle design that maintains a horizontal injection pattern but allow fibrous material to escape.

Publications

• No publications reported this period