| ICE & Refrigeration World Fishirtg November 1998 | |
 Salmon is kept in ice before processing. |
Flake ice meets Chile challenge |
| French refrigeration
specialist Geneglace has recently scored another success in the Chilean market, with the
installation of two of its 5800 flake ice machines, each with a capacity of 20
tonnes per 24 hours, for one of the country's leading salmon processors. Alisan, based in Queli6n on the island of Chilo6, processes around 6,000 tonnes of salmon fillets per year. Most of its production is exported to the USA and japan, where customers expect products of outstanding quality. This makes it very important to keep the product fresh, so salmon is put in flake ice as soon as it is caught and kept close to O'C, the temperature of melting ice, throughout the distribution and processing chain. Salmon is taken from Alisan's fish farm and immediately placed in insulated boxes containing a mixture of cold water and flake ice, in a proportion of 350 kg of salmon to 130 kg of ice. The boxes are then taken on a four hour journey by boat to Queii6n then emptied. |
The fish is then
cleaned, gutted, sorted and placed according to size in containers in a clean mixture of
water and flake ice. This technique quickly chills the fish to the core, resulting in
improved flesh texture and making it easier to fillet and process later, says Genegiace. The salmon may be sold frozen or fresh. In the latter case, both whole fish and fillets are covered with flake ice and shipped in polystyrene crates to ensure freshness. Geneglace says it now has approximately 90 of its machines operating throughout Chile. |
