M.C. Dordi
Professor
Indian Institute of
Packaging, Mumbai.
Source: Book on Plastics for
Food Packaging, presented
by Indian Institute of
Packaging, Mumbai and
published by Indian Centre
for Plastics in the
Environment, Mumbai
India has over 8000 kilometers of
coastline, 3 million hectares of reservoirs
and 1.4 million hectares of
brackish water, which is a vast potential
for fishes, both from inland and
marine resources. There are over 3,700
fishing villages and about 47,000
mechanised and 2,23,000 nonmechanised
fishing vessels actively
engaged in marine fish capture. India’s
fish production is approximately 5%
of the total world production. India
produces close to 6 million tonnes of
fish.
Nearly 60% of the production of
fish in India is from marine sources.
Marine fishes found in India include
prawns, shrimps, tuna, cuttlefish,
squids, octopus, red snappers, ribbon
fish, mackerel, lobsters, catfish and a
number of other varieties. Out of the
total marine landings of our country,
65% of fish are consumed as “fresh”,
7% as frozen, 20% as cured and 0.2%
as canned. In the total exports, about
34% of shrimps, 22% of cephalopods
and 36% of fish are exported in frozen
form. Fish landed in plenty during glut
season, are often converted to dried
fish or meal without properly preserving
them and made available to the
interior cities during off-seasons.
Processing of produce into
canned and frozen forms is carried out almost entirely for the export market.
Processed fish products for export
include - conventional block frozen
products, Individual Quick Frozen
(IQF) products, minced fish products
like fish sausages, cakes, cutlets, fillets,
pastes, surimi, texturised products
and dry fish.
Need for Packaging of Fish
and Fish Products
Fish is an extremely perishable food and
should be handled at all times with great
care, in such a way so as to inhibit the
growth of micro-organisms. Fish quality
deteriorates rapidly and potential
life is reduced if they are not handled
and stored properly. Most often, the
fish landing stations are far away from
places where fish is processed or marketed
and, therefore, they have to be
transported over long distances. Fish
must be refrigerated or frozen immediately
after landing to prevent microbial
deterioration. It is reported that the rate
of spoilage doubles with every 5.5°C
rise in temperature. Desiccation of
chilled and frozen fish during storage
causes quality deterioration as well as
weight losses. The quality/type of packaging
materials and the method of packaging
are, therefore, of great importance
for preserving the quality of fish. Fish
and fish products can be grouped into
fresh fish, frozen fish, canned fish, dried
fish and other value added fish products.
Each category requires special
packaging materials and different handling
procedures and is, therefore, discussed
separately.
....contd.
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