QUALITY OF RAW MATERIALS FOR INDUSTRIAL FISH PROCESSING

INTRODUCTION

Post-harvest technology is a multidisciplinary science. It refers to various treatments
and unit operations carried out on harvested crops for the purpose of preservation or
enhancement of quality by eliminating avoidable losses. The important areas of post-harvest technology is the familiarization with major crops, harvesting indices, harvesting technological tools and their maintenance, post-harvest technology-concept and scope, unit operations of crop processing, post-harvest equipments and machinery-operations and maintenance, storage of farm produce and concept of fish-processing centre.

In developing countries, where tropical weather and poorly developed infrastructure contribute to the problem, losses are sometimes staggering proportions. Losses occur in all operations from harvesting through handling, storage, processing and marketing. They are according to the influence of factors such as the perishability of the commodity; ambient temperature and relative humidity which determine the natural courses of decay; fungal and bacterial decay; damage by pests-insects, rodents and birds; the length of time between harvesting and consumption; and practices of post harvest handling, storage and processing.Most often, post harvest losses are symptom rather than the problem. Knowledge of their cause is, therefore, essential deciding measures to prevent them. Such measures may have to be taken by the small farmer, the private trader, a cooperative, the marketing board or other operator, handlers and transporters, wholesale and retail markets, etc.

Figure 1: Branches in Post Harvest Technology.

Quality control and marketing of fish and fish products are like the two sides of a coin. One cannot do without the other. Quality, in general, means the wholesomeness or the state of excellence of a particular product in terms of its appearance, shape, colour, taste and competitiveness in price to the buyer. In a nutshell, quality means the fulfillment of the customer’s requirements.

Fish and fish products, being highly spoilable, deserve special care and attention being paid to them from the catching point to the frying-pen. The living habitats of fish are completely different from its post-harvest environments and its quality depends on many factors, such as intrinsic composition, degree of spoilage, damage, deterioration during harvesting, cleaning, washing, handling, preservation, processing, storage, transportation, distribution and marketing. A prolonged shelf-life and better quality can be maintained even under natural conditions in the cold countries than in tropical ones. In tropical and warm countries like Bangladesh, the quality of fish can better be controlled and shelf-life substantially increased through the introduction of a uniform cold-chain system from harvesting to marketing. This process being very costly, cannot be afforded for domestic fish processing and marketing. It is generally used only by the export-oriented fish and shrimp processing plants catering for the international market.

HARVESTING AND LANDING

The word harvesting comes from harvest.
According to “Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary” harvest means “the act of cutting and gathering grain and other food crops” or “The crops or amount of crops cut and gathered at this time”. In respect to aquaculture techniques harvesting means to catch fish after its full growthness. Harvesting does not only mean the taking of fish, it also relates to the capture of all aquatic animals; that is not only fish but also crustaceans, mollusks, coelenterates. There are many crafts & gears are used for harvesting purpose.

Method of harvesting naturally depends on the culture system, the species cultured and the form in which the product is to be marketed. At first fishing or harvesting is done by simplest way. In modern life of many countries the equipments of fishing has been so developed that it is easy to catch enormous fish in short time. Properly designed fish pond have special provisions for draining and easy harvesting, whereas in pens and similar enclosure suitable nets and other fishing devices have to be used. In open water stocking and ranching, fishing equipment used in capture fisheries is the common choice.

In order to reduce losses or avoid them altogether at the time of capture, grading and handling the following precautions should be taken:

1. Feeding should be suspended 2-3 days before emptying.

2. Only harvest when the weather is cool, preferably in the morning, except when the

Weather is cloud covered or rainy. No harvest should be done during thundery

weather.

3. A perfected grading is necessary, long transportation should avoid.

4. Fish should not be heaped up in scoop nets or transport receptacles-particularly young fish, salmon’s or other delicate fish.

Since freshwater fish and shrimp as well as marine fish and shrimp are harvested, landing of fish is round the year and widely dispersed throughout the country. Artisanal methods are mainly employed to tap the resource and there are limited facilities for landing the catch. The main inland fish landing points are Goalunda, Kuliarchar, Ajmirigonj, Habigonj, Bhairab, Chandpur, Jessore and Kustia.

Marine coastal fishing in Bangladesh is seasonal. The peak season is during the calm weather from October to March. Almost 95 per cent of the total marine catch is harvested from nearshore waters by smallscale fishermen and only about five per cent is from the deepsea trawlers. The major landings of marine and estuarine catch take place at Chittagong, Pahartali, Sitakunda, Teknaf, Shahparirdwip, Barisal, Khulna, Cox’s Bazar, Hatiya, Sandwip, Bhola, Hajimara, Charfession, Mohipur (Kuakata), Patharghata, Dublarchar, Bagerhat, Parerhat, Karerhat, Chandpur and Patuakhali.

The catches of cultured shrimp are landed at Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Paikgacha, Kaligonj, Chackoria, Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong.

The season of fish catching may be divided into two categories:

1. Peak season and
   
2. Lean season.
   

Peak season covers the month of April through September of a year whereas the lean season includes the month from October to March. Reportedly, fishes are seasonal produces. The season will be devised into two categories viz, peak and lean season. Peak season starts from April and it continues up to the month of September. Again, lean season continues between the months of October to March of a year. Among peak season, the average fish catching in kg is the highest in the month of August which is followed by July, June, May, April and September.

Problems for Harvesting Fish Resources in the Water

• The number of gears trawlers is limited.
  
• Home maid mechanized boat facility is limited.
  
• Fish catching area, market, fish processing and preservation facility is limited.
  
• Lack of industry or production of modern fishing net.
  
• There is lack of facility to harvest fish during natural hazard.
  
• Absence of training facility for fishermen.
  

Suggestion for Overcoming Problems of Harvesting Fish

• By increasing the number of trawler and fishing gears.
  
• Fishing area, market, processing and preservation facility should increase.
  
• There should be established industry for making developed fishing net.
  
• There should be increased training facility of fishermen.
  
• There should be applied modern technology and gear for harvesting fish during natural hazard.
  

HANDLING AND TRANSPORTATION

There are many different types of fish products available to the consumer but most of them have to undergo some sort of initial preparation before processing. This preparation can be cutting the fish in particular way to produce the raw material necessary for future processing. Due to delicate nature of fish and it deteriorate rapidly. The fish is treated badly, it is important to handle fish hygienically and carefully during all stage of preparation. These session is designed firstly to clarify some of the ways in which the initial preparation of fish before onward processing.

In the trawl fishery, however, sorting is often a problem, as the fishes are caught in the large quantities and are dumped all at one time on the deck. Market fish of different species and sizes should be separate for icing. Small fish are more difficult to keep in good condition than large one and should be iced separately. Some species of trawl fish are soft fished and spoil rapidly than do other species of comparable size and thus should be iced separately. Mud and Debris on the fishes should be washed with clean water.

If a delay between the times the fish are landed and the time they are iced unavoidable, care should be taken to see that the fish are protected from spoilage. If the sun is shinning and the deck is hot, the fish should either be covered with a tarpaulin or kept cool and wet with clean sea water. When the fish are iced, small fish and more perishable species should be handling first.

Fish held for more than a couple of days is usually eviscerated. Some fish that are caught close in shore need not be eviscerated nor iced. However, fish that spoil rapidly should be gutted as soon as possible after catching.

Large size in comparison with small ones requires less time to eviscerate. Large fish cool slowly in ice and evisceration exposes more area in the cooling effect. Small fishes are iced without being eviscerated, as this is impractical and uneconomic due to the grade number in the catching.

Many plants prefer fish in undressed condition, since automatic machinery used in the processing requires un-gutted fishes to operate properly.

Transport of fish particular important in fish culture, especially in case of live fish. Unless proper care is taken mortality of live, particularly of their younger stages. Framed fresh water fish are usually taken to market either in tubes or in similar containers on in tankers. It is unnecessary to take quantity water to market as well as the fish and it is thus important to carry as many fish as the container will allow. For distance carriage, fishes are allowed to processing and preservation.

Carrying fish alive to a market where the consumer can buy them must be one of the oldest methods of ensuring that consumer can get fresh fish for both rearing and feeding purposes without losing weight.

• Fresh water, marine water aquarium fishes are included in this process.
  
• It is generally sold by at a particularly place and abundant at festival times for the rearing purpose when live fish are carrying.
  
• There are ‘open and closed systems of transport. The open system it is done by open container where the water gets oxygen from the atmosphere. In the closed system fish is taken by a tank, bag or disc with a oxygenated water of adjustable pH, salinity, temperature and other physiological parameter. Then it is delivered to consumer. To stop the growth of bacteria the temperature should ideally be between 0 and 4c.
  
• It is not usual to feed fish during the live carriage; gut should be empty before sending fish to market. There are two reasons for this: firstly unfed fish are livelier than fish which have just fed because they are not using energy in digestion and accumulation. Secondly if the fish defecate in the water, the faces have a high oxygen demand and this reduces the quantity of fish which could be carried.
  
• Transport should be carried out either early in the morning to avoid cannibalism. Cool clear water with high DO content is used. In hot weather the carriers are to be covered with sacks or cloth soaked with water if necessary water is to be changed on the way while transporting.
  

General transportation and communication

The transport system within in Bangladesh consists of waterways, road transport service, railways, civil activation and coastal and shipping ports.

Waterways

The river traffic within Bangladesh is dominated by movement of goods, people and services between the two major ports of country (Chittagong port & the Chalna anchorage ports and a limited number of other points like Narayangang, Barisal, chandpur etc.). importantly inland station like Barisal, Dabdapia, Halta, Bakerganj and patuakhali are connected by steamer launches and other type of country boats.

Road Transport

Roads and road transport play a vary crucial role in the countries economic growth. Road transport is particularly suitable for short and haul traffic and for some specified types of goods such as perishable and high value commodities.

Railways

The Bangladesh railway system is divided into distinct parts by the river Bramphaputtra, Jamuna, ferries and bahadurabad and Sirajgong make east-west connection, which are naturally slow and highly expensive.

Airways

The civil aviation authority is responsible for providing airports and relates facilities. Bangladesh biman meets the domestic air transport demand of the country. Domestic routes connecting Dhaka with Cox’s bazaar, Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet, Thakurgaon, Ishurdi and Jessore. On the regional routes, regular flights are operated between Dhaka and Calcutta, kathmandu, London, Dubai and Bangkok.

Road, rail and water transport are used to carry fish to distant places from landing/collecting centres. In case of marine transport, mechanized boats with insulated fish-holds are used. But on land, road transport is mainly used as it is considered safe and speedy. For fish to reach distant urban centres from the fishing grounds needs 7-9 days after catch. This is less than the normal shelf-life of many tropical species, even if handling and storing conditions are ideal. Packing materials include bamboo baskets, wooden boxes and hessian bags. Usually banana leaves, seal, hoglamat and hessian are used as insulating material and they create problems for the keeping quality of the raw material.

RAW MATERIAL COLLECTION SYSTEM

In practice fishermen or farmers have little chance to deliver their catch to the industry directly. The collection of raw materials for processing plants passes through private channels. The structure of these channels varies from area to area, but in general, can be divided as follows:

-Primary landing/collecting centre.

-Secondary landing/collecting centre.

- Higher secondary landing/collecting centre.

- Final stage of delivery to industry.

At all levels of the collection and distribution system there are groups of collectors who collect raw materials for the wholesalers or suppliers. Most of the landing, collecting and wholesale centers are neither properly equipped nor provided with adequate facilities for fish handling. The sanitary conditions are also not good enough to maintain the proper quality of fish. In most cases, there is no supply of clean water and ice. The facilities for preservation are also unsatisfactory. There are only four modem and hygienic fish landing centers – in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna – all built by the public sector, but these are not enough to cope with the total landings.

CONCLUSION

It is very important to maintain the quality of raw materials in industrial fish processing and quality control system. It contains many important things on which the certain goal of any industry mostly depends. So, we should adopt the best quality control system of raw materials as these are the initial materials for the product.

REFERENCES

FAO, 1995. Report of the National Workshop on Fisheries Resources Development and Management in Bangladesh: Quality Control and Marketing of Fish and Fish Products; Needs for Infrastructure And Legal Support. Online document, Retrieval with Mozilla Firefox 3.03, retrieved on December 22, 2008. Web (URL) address:http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5625e/x5625e0f.htm#16.%20quality%20of%20raw%20materials.

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