Tempering freshwater fish in minutes instead of hours
A traditional fish farmer and processor replaced its thawing rooms with a Sairem microwave tempering system. It now thaws to current demand, has kept the quality of its fish and freed up production space.
The customer
A traditional freshwater fish farmer and processor that puts great emphasis on quality. After harvesting, it deep-freezes part of the fish and gradually thaws and processes them according to demand. Until now, it used thawing rooms for this.
The challenge
Thawing in rooms was slow and inflexible; the fish lost water and protein and their quality suffered. The rooms also took up a lot of space and required production to be carefully planned days in advance. The customer was looking for a solution that would thaw fish quickly without compromising on quality.
The solution
We proposed a Sairem NutriTemp Batch (AMW 200) microwave tempering system. Microwaves heat the block of fish evenly throughout its volume, so there is no temperature difference between surface and core and the fish lose neither water nor protein. The natural structure and taste of the flesh are preserved.
A process that used to take many hours now takes minutes. The compact machine also occupies a fraction of the space the thawing rooms needed.
Benefits
- Speed: thawing went from hours to minutes, speeding up the whole production.
- Quality: the fish keep their natural texture, taste and nutrients.
- Space saving: the space once used by thawing rooms now serves other purposes.
- Flexibility: production no longer has to be planned ahead; the customer responds to demand immediately.
- Higher yield: lower losses of water and protein mean up to 10 % more product to sell.
