Fish Loaf: A tale of textures and taste buds 



Boxing the fish on ice: the line of least resistance 



The dilemma facing the underutilized fish market 

 epitomized by these attitudes. Fishermen, dis- 

 couraged by the low per unit yield from the fish, are 

 reluctant to part with the substantial outlays re- 

 quired to capture the market. Yet in so doing, they 

 are virtually closing the door to a potentially 

 lucrative market that has been given only minimal 

 n in the U.S. Interestingly enough, in terms 

 of market potential, shrimp were considered to be un- 

 derutilized along the North Carolina coast prior to 

 World War II. Today the shrimp fishery is the single 

 valuable within the state, with a landed value of 

 nearly $8.2 million in 1976. 



Perhaps the greatest potential in the underutilized 

 'ish market lies overseas. According to Roger Ander- 

 son, executive director of the Gulf and South Atlantic 

 Fisheries Development Foundation, "Export markets 

 »ill play a very, very important role in the develop- 

 ment of these 'underutilized' species." Because 

 markets have already been established in Europe and 

 the Orient for such domestically underutilized 

 species as squid, eel, skate and dogfish, marketing 

 specialists suggest that greater attention must be 

 to the export market. In light of the recently ex- 

 uded fisheries jurisdiction, it is apparent that the 

 ^gnificance of these markets will increase in the 

 coming decades as new species of fish are exploited. 



Consumer attraction is the key to selling any 

 product. In the case of underutilized fish, appeal is 

 vital. For more than three years researchers in the 

 NCSU Food Science Department with UNC Sea 

 Grant support have been attempting to perfect an ap- 

 pealing, high protein, low fat food product composed 

 primarily of minced fish tissue. After countless tests, 

 Sea Grant investigator Donald Hamann believes they 

 may have found the key. 



Luncheon loaf, as it is appropriately termed, looks 

 and tastes much like common bologna. But that's 

 where all similarities end, for unlike bologna, 

 luncheon loaf contains nearly 50 per cent more 

 protein and less than a third of the calories for an 

 equivalent portion of bologna. And of course there is 

 another important difference— luncheon loaf is com- 

 prised almost entirely of deboned croaker tissue. 



Because croaker are bony fish, filleting can be an 

 aggravating experience for the amateur. Even for the 

 expert, it requires a certain amount of patience and 

 meticulous care. Recovery on filleting averages only 

 30 per cent. As a result, croaker, like many so-called 

 underutilized species, primarily have been ground 

 into pet food and powdered for use in fertilizer. 



Extension Seafood Specialist Frank Thomas views 

 this as an inefficient use of a resource he considers per- 

 fectly suited to the human diet. "We look at food for the 

 table as providing a much higher return for the invest- 

 ment than pet food," he remarks. But food researchers 



also agree that for any product to be successful in the 

 market place, it must be convenient and the quality 

 must be consistent. This is where research on the 

 minced fish tissue and fish extenders such as the 

 luncheon loaf comes into play. 



According to Hamann, one of the primary dif- 

 ficulties involved in producing a consistent seafood 

 product is texture. "The texture of some fish is fairly 

 soft and mushy. This is normally an undesirable 

 situation." Specifically, Hamann breaks the concept 

 of texture down into a series of important properties 

 or "notes": springiness, firmness, cohesiveness, 

 denseness, roughness, gumminess, oiliness and ease 

 of swallow. Two independent panels, composed of 

 professional homemakers with critical palates for 

 seafood, participate in periodic product evaluations. 

 They examine both the textural properties of the 

 products as well as their sensory characteristics: in- 

 cluding taste, appearance and odor. After careful 

 scrutiny, the products are ranked on a scale of 1 to 14 

 for each of the texture notes. For example, a product 

 receiving a 1 for firmness lacks that characteristic. 

 Conversely, a product with a rating of 14 is overly 

 firm. 



Of course nothing is left to human error. Texture- 

 sensitive instruments are used along with human 

 evaluations. According to Hamann, when the results 

 from both evaluations correlate they are fairly confi- 

 dent of the findings. 



PROXIMATE COMPOSITION OF CERTAIN SEAFOODS AND MEAT PRODUCTS 



Product 



i 



Protein 



% 



Fat 



% 



Moisture 



% 



Carbohydrate 



% 



Ash 



Total 

 Calories 

 Per 100 gms 



% Protein 

 Calories 

 Total Calories 



Raw Croaker - 

 Minced tissue 



17.59 



2.00 



78.72 





1.69 



88.36 



79.23 



Fish Loaf 



17.97 



2.16 



73.11 



0.93 



5.83 



95.04 



75.63 



Fish Jerky 



58.95 



7.30 



17.00 



3.61 



13.14 



315.94 



74.63 



Meatloaf 



15.90 



13.20 



64.10 



3.30 



3.50 



195.60 



32.52 



Frankfurters 



12.40 



27.20 



57.30 



1.60 



1.50 



300.80 



16.49 



Bologna 



12.10 



27.50 



56.20 



1.10 



3.10 



300.30 



16.12 



Salami (dry) 



23.80 



38.10 



29.80 



1.20 



7.10 



442.90 



21.49 



In addition to texture evaluation, Hamann and his 

 associate researcher C. S. Cheng are examining some 

 of the factors which may account for the broad varia- 

 tion in textural characteristics. Sanitation and rapid 

 chilling aboard ship play a major role in determining 

 whether or not the tissue will have the desired tex- 

 ture. "The length of time the fish are on ice in the 

 boat before it comes to shore affects the texture enor- 

 mously. If, for example, a ship is at sea for five days, 



LUNCHEON LOAF 



then the texture will be considerably inferior to that 

 which has been on ice for only one day," Hamann ob- 

 serves. 



Both Cheng and Hamann believe the problems 

 with textural inconsistency relate to enzyme activity. 

 Their findings suggest that an enzyme buildup in the 

 fish's tissue while on ice is responsible for the 

 breakdown of certain proteins. From a practical 

 standpoint, this means that the fish's tissues become 

 soft and mushy. However, they believe such texture 

 degradation can be compensated for by rapid heating 

 during final preparation. 



Hamann considers the luncheon loaf to be a key 

 product since it is the base for many of the other 

 products developed at the NCSU Food Science 

 Department in Raleigh and the Morehead City 

 Seafood Lab. While researchers hope to apply the 

 techniques developed here to other species, such as 

 spot, bluefish, mullet and grey trout, they have 

 focused most of their efforts on the croaker because 

 of its wide availability in the waters along North 

 Carolina. Last year more than 15 million pounds of 

 croaker were landed off the North Carolina coast. 



(See "Product. " p. 5) 



