Efficient heat treatment in fish hot smoking technology

Abstract

Modern fish processing enterprises require the introduction of new energy-efficient modes in their production processes which will give possibility to produce high-quality products being safe for the consumer. In the production technologies of smoked fish products, complex heat and mass transfer and biochemical processes are activated. The first are considered to be decisive in terms of energy costs for their implementation and in terms of their impact on the final properties of the finished product. The research of dewatering and heating processes requires the determination and systematic analysis of changes in the moisture content and temperature of fish in various modes. The regularities of the dehydration kinetics, fish heating in the process of hot smoking are analyzed. During the heat treatment of fish raw materials, samples of different types, sizes and chemical composition were selected. The possibility of generalization of the fish dehydration kinetics curves is confirmed. It is identified that in order to obtain high-quality hot smoking finished products, it is necessary to use cool-down heat treatment modes for high-fat fish and more rigid for processing fish with a low fat content. Improving the efficiency of heat treatment in the technology of hot smoked fish is based on obtaining generalized patterns of the process which allow us to design optimal operating parameters. The design of optimal modes of hot smoking of fish was carried out using the developed methodology for calculating the processes of dehydration and fish heating which ultimately let us determine the relationship between the processes of heat and mass transfer. Optimal energy-efficient and resource-saving modes of production hot-smoked fish products from raw materials with high, medium and low fat content have been developed and tested. It ensures high-quality smoked fish production output.