Sunwell Technologies of Canada reports good progress on the Deepchill Variable-State Ice System which it has supplied to the "Hiketa Fish Processing Center", (Kagawa Fishery Union) which claims to lead the market for sales of farmed fish in Japan.
t in Higashi Kagawa City in October 2004, the plant complies with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point standards and processes up to 1,000 tonnes of fresh fish a year, including locally farmed fish such as yellow tail, amberjack and red sea bream.
A report from the company also says the cost of the 1162m2 facility (excluding land) with equipment was about 364 million Japanese Yen (Euro2,670,427).
The Deepchill system, installed in collaboration with its Japanese affiliate Slurry 21 Co. Ltd., (part of the Hitachi Zosen Group) can deliver a range of ice states from very liquid ice slurry, to a very thick paste, and even dry (liquid free) ice crystals, a company statement said.
Mr. Ikuhiro Hattori, chairman of The Representative Administration Officer of Kagawa Fishery Union says it was 'the first time a fish processing plant in Japan has introduced slurry ice, which has a high capacity for maintaining freshness', although slurry in the fisheries industry in Japan is widely known as deepchill ice, in particular for its use in shipping of high-quality Sanriku Pacific saury.
The facility has two process lines flowing through primary and secondary processing rooms, and a packing room, with each room divided by panels, to adhere to the general one-way flow line guidelines of HACCP. The system uses seawater to produce deepchill and automatically delivers the medium in different ice fractions to the receiving, secondary processing and packing rooms through piping. Ice salinity is also automatically controlled so there is no worry of sub-cooled temperatures damaging the product.
Locally farmed fish, such as yellow tail and amberjack, are received from eight small fish holding units located in the harbour beside the centre. Two land-based four-tonne tanks are used for red sea bream and flatfish and other fish brought in through the Fishery Union's network.
The live fish are quick-killed then rapidly pre-chilled in large totes, using lower ice fraction deepchill to maintain their freshness prior to processing. These totes are delivered to the primary processing room where the fish are gutted, cut and cleaned.
The fish are conveyed to the secondary processing room, where they fall into a tote containing deepchill slurry to maintain their temperature prior to filleting. In the packing room, the vacuum-bagged fillets are boxed and finally packed with higher ice fraction deepchill slurry or dry crystals (liquid free) to keep the product cold and fresh until it reaches the customers.
Mr. Masayoshi Yoneda, general manager of the centre says: "We've been satisfied with the operating result of the Deepchill Ice System not only in chilling performance but also in saving time and manpower for processing".
