PROCESSING SMOKED FRESHWATER FISH PRODUCTS ANDMARKET DEVELOPMENT
OF VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS INTHE GREAT LAKES AND NORTHEASTERN
REGIONSOF THE UNITED STATES Kentucky producers face challenges in
entering the developing aquaculture industry due to high capital
and variable costs and limited infrastructure.Species such as
hybrid striped bass and paddlefish have been introduced to help
improve revenue through diversified production.Although smoked
salmon is by far the most available value-added product on the
market, there is a need for diversification in the smoked fish
market, a niche that could be filled by cultured freshwater fish.
This project explored markets for value-added, smoked Kentucky
farm-raised catfish, hybrid striped bass and paddlefish. Final
Report Contact: Angela CaporelliKentucky Dept. of
AgricultureAquaculture Coordinator and Marketing
[email protected] Processing Smoked
Freshwater Fish Products and Market Development of these Value-
Added Products in the Great Lakes and Northeast Regions of the
United States Final Report to USDA FSMIP Angela Caporelli, Kentucky
Department of AgricultureSteven D. Mims, Kentucky State
University,Aquaculture Research Center, Frankfort, KY 40601 Summary
of Activities and Milestones: Production of consumer-safe smoked
fish products were developed and prepared for evaluation by
wholesaler, retailer and restaurant owners. Delivered smoked fish
samples to evaluate perception of potential buyers,provided
outreach program for future chefs to be more knowledgeable of
freshwater aquaculture, and availability of potential freshwater
fish for purchase and utilized their skills in developing recipes
for consumer satisfaction of cultured freshwater fishes. Interstate
marketing of smoked fish that were farmed-raised appears to have
positive opportunity.Information transfer was accomplished for
commercial testing and distribution.Paddlefish was identified to be
most attractive to the buyers because of its unique food
characteristics (white, firm texture and boneless meat). Proposed
Research Results: Objective 1: To determine the effect of brining
methods on the water phase salt content of fresh and frozen
catfish, paddlefish and striped bass fillet to meet FDA guidelines
for smoked products. Optimizing brining conditions were conducted
so the smoked fish products will have adequate amount of
water-phase salt content (>3.5%) or water activity less than
0.97.First, we determined that fillets of catfish and largemouth
bass could be brined in 10% salt solution overnight, while
paddlefish fillets (thicker fillets) needed to be brined for 24
hours in similar brining solution.We conducted a focus group study
with 12 experienced chefs in collaboration with the Southeast
Culinary Association.The chefs strongly favor a smoked whole fish
product instead of the smoked fillets. Therefore, we focused more
on a blocked paddlefish (i.e. decapitated, gutted and skinned) also
known as a bullet.Since the bullet is thick and difficult for the
salt to penetrate through, we initially determined that it should
be brined in a vacuum tumbler at 15 mm Hg for 60-90 minutes, in
order for the products to attain enough salt in the thickest
part.Increasing the vacuum setting to 25 mm Hg, a 60-minute
interval was adequate to achieve the desired water-phase salt
content in the final products.Another study was also conducted to
test the feasibility of adding sugar to the brine solution.It was
found that increasing sugar content from 92.5g. to 370g/3.75 liter
of brine decreased the water-phase salt content but the water
activity of the products stayed within the safe range.Therefore, it
is possible to use additional sugar in the brine to modify the
salty taste without compromising the safety of the products.
Milestone:Production of consumer-safe smoked fish products were
developed and prepared for evaluation by wholesaler, retailer and
restaurant owners. Future Work: Transfer information to Aquaculture
of Kentucky, Inc. for commercial testing and distribution.
Objective 2:To elicit perceptions of wholesale, retail, and
restaurant buyers of smoked catfish, paddlefish and hybrid striped
bass. Wholesale buyers, fish retailers, and restaurants were
surveyed in Kentucky Businesses (KBs) and the Great Lakes
Businesses (GLB) areas to evaluate their perceptions of the three
types of smoked fish.Results were received from 37 wholesale,
retail and restaurant buyers.Smoked fish samples were taste tested
and products evaluated.Results showed a significant difference in
perceptions based upon the two geographic locations of the
respondents.More GLBs respondents habitually purchase smoked fish
from individual suppliers, while all smoked fish buyers of KBs
purchase from wholesale suppliers.With respect to product ratings,
smoked catfish compared poorly to the other products, while hybrid
striped bass and paddlefish were rated relatively highly.Most
buyers considered the appearance of whole-smoked paddlefish to be
superior to the other fish types, and they felt that the paddlefish
compared well with more traditional smoked fish such as
sturgeon.Further, lectures on aquaculture and introduction of
potential smoked fish products to future chefs and their
instructors was accomplished at The Chef Academy, Culinary
Division, Indiana Business College, Indianapolis.There were over 60
students and instructors who participated in a taste test of the
three smoked fishes.Paddlefish drew much attention due to its
unique meat characteristics.Several recipes were developed (see
attachments). Milestones:Delivered smoked fish samples to potential
buyers for evaluation, provided outreach program for future chefs
to be more knowledgeable of freshwater aquaculture, availability of
potential freshwater fish for purchase and utilization of their
skills in developing recipes for consumer satisfaction of cultured
freshwater fishes. Future: Smoked paddlefish was the favorite
product of potential buyers.Additional marinates and flavors are
being tested to further advance the market potential of this
product. Objective 3: To determine prices, product forms, size,
packaging, etc. for smoked catfish, paddlefish and hybrid striped
bass that would be acceptable to the above buyers. Generally, GLBs
ascribed lower importance to smoked seafood attributes such as
price, packaging, and origin than KBs.This is because GLBs have a
wider selection of smoked seafood and a much more varied consumer
demand than KBs.Hence, the results indicate that it would be easier
to sell smoked freshwater fish in GLBs.However, the lack of
importance that GLBs attributed to having farm-raised fishes
indicates that it is likely that GLBs are featuring wild-caught
seafood , which are typically less expensive than aquaculture
seafood.Paddlefish would have an advantage over the other two
cultured fishes (i.e. channel catfish and hybrid striped bass)
because paddlefish as a filter feeder is less expensive to culture,
not requiring expensive diets, and could better compete in the GLBs
that use wild-caught fish. Further, results suggest that KBs would
be more likely candidates for smoked paddlefish than GLBs.Wholesale
buyers exhibited a good perception towards smoked
paddlefish.However, a few caveats to marketing smoked paddlefish
emerge from the survey: namely, KBs are more willing to purchase
smoked fish fillets than whole-smoked fish and wholesalers are very
particular of product packaging than other types of smoked seafood
buyers.The full report of the survey is attached.
Milestones:Interstate marketing of smoked fish that were
farmed-raised appears to have positive opportunity.Paddlefish was
identified to be most attractive to the buyers because of its
unique food characteristics (white, firm texture and boneless
meat). Published Abstracts and Presentations: Wang, C., L. Huang,
R.J. Onders, S. D. Mims and A. Caporelli 2008. Developing safe
value added products from aquacultural fishes. Presented to Joint
1890 AEA/ARD Conference: Addressing Universal Issues through
Science and Engagement, Memphis, June 8-11, 2008. Wang, S., L.
Huang, R.O. Onders, S.D. Mims, C. Butler and C. Wang. 2007. Brine
strength and brining time influence salt content of smoked
paddlefish meat. Presented to the Annual Meeting of Kentucky
Academy of Science, Louisville, Nov. 8-10, 2007.Kia Rodriguez ,
Cecil Butler, Lingyu Huang, Changzheng Wang, R.O. Onders and S.D.
Mims. 2008. Sugar modifies the water activity and water-phase salt
content of smoked paddlefish meat. Presented to the Annual Meeting
of Kentucky Academy of Science, Lexington, Nov. 5-6, 2008.
Dasgupta, S, S.D. Mims, and J. Greene.In press.Buyer Preferences
for Smoked Freshwater Fish. Aqua 09 Conference, Seattle, WA. Wang,
C., L. Huang, C. Butler, R. J. Onders and S.D. Mims.In press.
Developing Value-added Products from Paddlefish Meat.Aqua 09
Conference, Seattle, WA. Budget Description Total Requested In-Kind
Match Total Equipment and Travel $15,850$22,500 Total
Supplies$10,760$2,250 Labor Total Personnel$26,000$38,080 KSU
overhead 25%$ 9,520 Total$52,610$72,350 Attachments Buyer
Perceptions of Smoked Freshwater Fish: A Statistical Analysis
Complete Report Descriptive Results Of 37 useful responses, 82%
indicate that they regularly bought or produced smoked fish.Among
those businesses that did purchase/produce smoked fish, 12 were
located around the Great Lakes, hereafter known as Great Lakes
Businesses (or GLB), and 16 were in Kentucky, hereafter known as
Kentucky Businesses (or KB).Many characteristics of the respondent
businesses were summarized in Table 1.Most of the businesses were
either retailers or wholesalers, with 25 employees or less.Patrons
of these businesses were mostly individual consumers, followed by
retail stores and restaurant/food service outfits. The data
indicated that GLBs purchased/produced 23,500 lb of smoked fish
annually (on average); the corresponding figure for KBs was 3,075
lb/year, on average (mean of aggregated data = 11,829
lb/year).Table 2 shows typical annual smoked seafood inventory of
GLBs and KBs in terms of types of seafood.Clearly smoked salmon was
the most popular item, followed, at a distant second, by smoked
trout.Some businesses had smoked tuna, sturgeon, chubs, halibut,
whitefish, etc. on inventory.Two KBs indicates that they had smoked
paddlefish on inventory; one KB indicated that they featured smoked
catfish and hybrid striped bass. Table 3 indicates the different
smoked seafood product forms that the respondents have as a
percentage of typical annual smoked seafood inventory.Smoked fish
fillets were most popular, followed by whole smoked fish.Table 3
shows that GLBs have a greater proclivity to feature whole-smoked
fish and smoked fish steaks.This is an important observation
because the production economics of smoked fish indicate that it is
significantly cost effective to have whole-smoked fish or fish
steaks as a final product, instead of smoked fillets.In addition,
paddlefish, which is boneless, is just as acceptable in the
whole-smoked or steak form than in the fillet form, particularly
because many prefer fillets due to their not having any bones. The
different sources of smoked seafood purchased by the respondent
businesses were summarized in Table 4.Clearly, wholesalers were the
most important source for smoked seafood; however, GLBs purchased
39%-40% of their inventory from individual fish smokehouses, while
none of KBs inventory was obtained from this source.A larger
percentage of KBs produced their own smoked seafood. Regression
Results Table 5 outlines estimated coefficients (and their
statistical significance), in conjunction with goodness-of-fit
measures, for a regressions involving eight response variables with
respect to four regressors.The response variables represented the
degree of importance placed by the respondents on different
attributes of smoked fish, such as, price, packaging, whether the
fish was a marine species, whether the fish was bony or boneless,
whether the fish was wild caught or farm raised, and the country of
origin of the fish.The regressors indicated respondent
characteristics that could affect their perceptions about smoked
seafood, such as their location (GLB vs. KB), size of smoked
seafood business (proxy variable: average amount of smoked seafood
purchased annually), business type (proxy variable: whether the
business is a wholesaler or not), and willingness to feature whole
smoked fish.Table 5 indicates that respondent location
significantly affected their perception of smoked seafood price:
GLBs collectively placed a significantly lower importance to
price.Similarly, with respect to product packaging, GLBs placed
less importance that corresponding respondents from Kentucky.Table
5 shows that wholesale businesses placed significantly higher
importance on product packaging than non-wholesale businesses.
Table 5 indicates that GLBs placed a significantly lower importance
on whether they featured smoked marine fish or freshwater fish.This
result must be considered in conjunction with the fact that many
GLBs sell freshwater fish from the Great Lakes as part of their
typical inventory.Similarly GLBs placed a lower importance on
whether the smoked fish was boneless.The results also show that
respondents with higher percentage of whole smoked fish in their
inventory placed greater importance as to whether the smoked fish
was bony or not. Table 5 indicates respondent opinions towards
smoked fish that were wild-caught versus farm-raised.The results
show that GLBs placed (significantly) lower importance on the
origins of the fish over KBs.In addition, businesses that sold more
smoked fish placed a lower importance as to the origins of the
fish.Wholesalers placed significantly lower importance on whether
the smoked fish was an aquaculture product.GLBs and those
businesses that sold a higher percentage of whole smoked fish
placed a significantly lower importance on the country of origin of
smoked seafood products. Table 6 reports any systematic impacts of
business characteristics on their opinions about attributes of
smoked catfish, hybrid striped bass, and paddlefish.For each type
of fish, the list of attributes includes appearance, texture, taste
and odor.The regression results in Table 6 include those
regressions which produced statistically significant slope
coefficients.Businesses that sold larger volumes of smoked fish had
a significantly lower opinion of the appearance, texture, taste,
and odor of smoked catfish.GLBs had a significantly lower
perception of the odor of smoked hybrid striped bass and
paddlefish, and the texture of smoked paddlefish.However, Table 6
reports that wholesalers exhibited a significantly higher
preference towards smoked paddlefish odor. Conclusions One main
conclusion from the results of the buyer survey was that GLBs and
KBs had very polarized views about smoked seafood.Generally, GLBs
ascribed lower importance to smoked seafood attributes such as
price, packaging, and origin than KBs.This is because GLBs have a
wider selection of smoked seafood and a much more varied consumer
demand than KBs.Hence, Table 5 indicates that it would be easier to
sell smoked freshwater fish in GLBs.However, the lack of importance
that GLBs attributed to having farm-raised fish, indicates that it
is likely that GLBs are featuring wild-caught seafood, which are
typically less expensive than aquaculture seafood. Table 6
indicates that KBs would be more likely candidates for smoked
paddlefish than GLBs.Wholesale buyers exhibited a good perception
towards smoked paddlefish.However, a few caveats to marketing
smoked paddlefish emerge from Table 5 and 6: namely, KBs are more
willing to purchase smoked fish fillets than whole-smoked fish and
wholesalers are very particular of product packaging than other
types of smoked seafood buyers. Table 1.Characteristics of smoke
seafood sellers surveyed in this project. Great Lakes Businesses
Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Type of business Wholesaler6
28Retailer7 1623Restaurant5 16Number of employees 25 or less11
182926-50 employees2 0251-100 employees2 02101 or more1 01Types of
customersa Wholesalers3.13% 4.17%3.69%Retailers22.13%
2.22%11.59%Restaurants/food service 11.25%
11.11%11.18%Consumers63.19% 82.50%73.49%aExpressed as a percentage
of the total number of customers. Table 2.Average annual smoked
seafood inventory expressed as a percentage of total smoked seafood
inventory. Great Lakes Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate
Smoked salmon67.08% 75.63%71.96%Smoked trout6.83% 8.75%7.93%Smoked
tuna0.50% 3.13%2.00%Smoked shellfish2.17% 0.00%0.93%Other smoked
seafooda10.00% 12.50%11.43%aOther smoked seafood examples: smoked
sturgeon, smoked halibut, smoked seabass, smoked mackerel, smoked
chubs, smoked whitefish, kippers, etc. Table 3.Average annual
smoked seafood inventory available in different product forms,
expressed as a percentage of total smoked seafood inventory. Great
Lakes Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Whole smoked
fish15.17% 12.81%13.82%Smoked fillets67.33% 81.56%75.46%Smoked fish
steaks6.42% 0.00%2.75%Other product forma11.08% 5.63%7.96%aOther
smoked seafood product forms include: smoked de-boned fish, smoked
fish spreads and dips, and smoked shellfish. Table 4.Average annual
smoked seafood obtained from different types of suppliers,
expressed as a percentage of total smoked seafood inventory. Type
of supplierGreat Lakes Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate
Individual fish smoking businesses 39.50% 0.00%16.93%Importers6.67%
0.00%2.86%Brokers0.00% 4.06%2.32%Wholesalers52.58%
89.69%73.79%Othersa1.25% 6.25%4.11%a Other sources primarily
include businesses that produce smoked seafood themselves. Table
5.Effects of business characteristics on their perceptions about
smoked seafood attributes.Results indicate estimated coefficients
(and corresponding p-values) of OLS-regressions of smoked seafood
attributes on various respondent characteristics.(N= 26) Response
variablesRegressors
InterceptGreatLakesbAmountcWholesalerdWholeFish%eProduct Pricea
R2=66.36%; A-R2 = 57.91% 9.099(
.01%)-2.584(0.03%)-0.00003(34.98%)0.432 (63.79%)
0.003(80.85%)Product Packaging R2=65.61%; A-R2 = 57.01% 9.685(
.01%)-3.724( .01%)-0.00004(35.60%)1.942 (7.80%)
-0.012(33.31%)Smoked Marine Fish R2=61.28%; A-R2 = 51.60% 8.864(
.01%)-5.676( .01%)-0.00006(38.34%)0.429 (80.55%)
-0.021(30.15%)Smoked Bony Fish R2=34.87%; A-R2 = 18.59% 5.206(
.01%)-2.147(13.84%)-0.00003(69.70%)-0.367 (86.11%)
0.067(1.23%)Smoked Boneless Fish R2=33.62%; A-R2 = 17.03% 9.722(
.01%)-2.174(5.31%)-0.00008(20.34%)0.585 (71.40%)
-0.017(35.83%)Smoked Wild-Caught Fish R2=76.97%; A-R2 = 71.21%
9.600( .01%)-3.524( .01%)-0.00009(0.60%)0.462 (54.59%)
-0.002(88.06%)Smoked Farmed Fish R2=50.99%; A-R2 = 38.74% 7.997(
.01%)-4.253(0.08%)0.00005(37.42%)-3.142 (6.46%)
-0.009(60.63%)Product Country of Origin R2=56.92%; A-R2 = 46.15%
9.422( .01%)-2.695(0.62%)-0.00002(63.72%)2.100 (12.52%)
-0.047(0.54%) Table 5.Continued. aEach attribute is measured on a
Likert scale: 0 (attribute unimportant) to 10 (attribute extremely
important).Below each attribute, goodness-of-fit measures of the
corresponding regression such as the R2 and Adjusted R2 are
provided. bGreatLakes is a dummy variable which is equal to 1 if
the business is located in the Great Lakes region, and 0 if it is
located in Kentucky. cAmount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood
that each business normally purchases and/or produces per year.
dWholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is
a wholesaler; otherwise it is 0. eWholeFish % is a continuous
variable that indicates the percentage of the total annual smoked
seafood inventory that is in the form of whole-smoked fish. Table
6.Effects of business characteristics on their perceptions about
attributes of smoked catfish, hybrid striped bass (HSB), and
paddlefish.Results indicate estimated coefficients (and
corresponding p-values) of OLS-regressions of smoked seafood
attributes on various respondent characteristics.(N= 28) Response
variablesRegressors InterceptGreatLakes
AmountWholesalerWholeFish%Smoked Catfish Appearancea R2=21.00%;
A-R2 = 3.00% 6.428( .01%)0.329(78.00%)-0.00004(3.34%)0.547 (71.00%)
0.009(64.30%)Smoked Catfish Texture R2=30.31%; A-R2 = 15.08% 6.853(
.01%)-0.351(71.00%)-0.00004(0.80%)1.385 (25.90%)
0.009(59.50%)Smoked Catfish Taste R2=36.00%; A-R2 = 21.45% 7.802(
.01%)-1.072(25.40%)-0.00004(0.80%)1.339 (27.00%)
0.006(73.30%)Smoked Catfish Odor R2=40.92%; A-R2 = 27.49% 8.248(
.01%)-1.423(14.97%)-0.00004(0.50%)2.087 (10.51%)
-0.009(60.82%)Smoked HSB Odor R2=32.05%; A-R2 = 8.522(
.01%)-1.301(8.18%)-0.00002(10.30%)1.350 (15.84%)
-0.013(31.52%)16.61% Smoked Paddlefish Texture R2=22.83%; A-R2 =
5.29% 7.681( .01%)-1.864(6.83%)0.00001(44.08%)1.846 (15.70%)
0.002(89.15%)Smoked Paddlefish Odor R2=27.38%; A-R2 = 10.88% 8.251(
.01%)-1.288(8.51%)0.000004(66.73%)1.777 (6.81%) 0.002(87.16%) Table
6.Continued. aPerceptions of each attribute are measured on a
Likert scale: 0 (extreme dislike of attribute) to 10 (extremely
like important).Below each attribute, goodness-of-fit measures of
the corresponding regression such as the R2 and Adjusted R2 are
provided. bGreatLakes is a dummy variable which is equal to 1 if
the business is located in the Great Lakes region, and 0 if it is
located in Kentucky. cAmount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood
that each business normally purchases and/or produces per year.
dWholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is
a wholesaler; otherwise it is 0. eWholeFish % is a continuous
variable that indicates the percentage of the total annual smoked
seafood inventory that is in the form of whole-smoked fish.