The company was started when Rudolph M J Baader developed a machine for filleting herring in 1919. This machine not only reduced the number of people required to fillet the species, it also saved time and money.
The German company, now operating worldwide, still seeks to reduce labour by replacing repetitive manual tasks with what it claims are safe and hygienic automated solutions.
Baader now does far more than design and build filleting machines for herring, of course. Today, the company offers a complete range of fish processing equipment from gutting, heading, filleting, skinning, trimming and final inspection to sizing and grading.
However, filleting still forms a key part of Baader’s development programme, and the company will be showing its new generation of filleting machines at the Seafood Processing Europe (SPE) exhibition in Brussels this month.
The Baader 581, which is an integral part of the company’s new salmon processing line, has been designed to improve hygiene, performance and fillet quality. These are key elements in Baader’s processing philosophy.
Because primary fish processing often takes place in countries where labour is not only abundant, but also relatively cheap, equipment manufacturers have to offer significant reasons why processors should pay what are often large sums of money for their machines.
Also the use of automated equipment sometimes sacrifices yield for speed; it is often not possible to continually adjust machines to the individual parameters of the fish being processed. However, anyone who has watched hand filleting and trimming in countries such as China and Vietnam will have seen how every scrap of flesh is removed from fish backbones.
The counter argument, of course, is that workers tire towards the end of their shift and accuracy suffers as a result.
Baader says that in countries where cheap manual labour is available, worker safety and food safety are often compromised. Its solution is to provide equipment to ‘produce safe food safely’.
“Baader's highly automated solutions address this problem by minimising the amount of hand workers on a fish processing line, therefore minimising injuries and the chance of contamination. At the same time, we reduce the labour costs for the processor and create safer working conditions,” says the company.
Baader says its salmon processing line is a perfect example of safe food solution and quality in all phases. This line, where whole salmon are fed in at the beginning of the line, and salmon fillets are weighed into boxes at the end, is also featured at SPE.
The line starts with the Baader 142 Princess-Cut Gutting Machine. This machine has now been redesigned for better hygiene performance, which fits in with the company’s safe food principle. Many parts can now be easily released for cleaning in an external washing machine, or manually. An adaptation for a CIP (clean-in-place) solution is also possible.
Safe food, produced safely, is an admirable slogan. For those who want to see if the company fulfills its promise, why not visit the Baader stand at SPE – No 5943 in Hall 4 – where demonstrations will be held throughout the three days of the exhibition.
