Surimi processing from lean fish

Abstract

Since the beginning of 1980 when surimi-based products were first introduced into the US market with explosive response, the surimi analogue production showed an exponential growth from a mere 2760 metric tons (mt) in 1983 to 80 000 mt in 1990 (NMFS, 1991) while the surimi production from Alaska pollock has risen from 58 200 mt in 1988 to a current level of 163 200 mt (Freese, 1992). This phenomenon resulted in the opening of the international market and at the same time the surimi technology stirred up the interest of global scientific communities. Following the introduction of surimi technology to Western countries, a number of workshops and symposia were held with numerous technical reports and scientific articles published on various surimi-related subjects, from harvest to production of finished products. The major surimiconsuming countries are Japan, Korea and the United States, where Japan leads in surimi production (248 000 mt, 1990), import (436 000 mt, 1990) and production of surimi-based products (829 000 mt, 1990) (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Japan, 1991). Major surimi producers and estimated production by countries from 1985 to 1989 are given in Figure 14.1. The statistics of surimi production and surimi-based product consumption of major producing and consuming countries is given in Table 14.1. There is a strong sign of a continuous growth in consumption of surimi-based products particularly in the European countries, while Japan and Korea have reached their peak. Table 1 Statistics of world surimi production and consumption of surimi-based products (1990)1 Surimi Surimi-based products Country Production Import Production (1000 mt) Japan Korea USA European imports of surimi-based products2 France Spain UK Italy Germany Total 248 60 178 436 40 143(export) 830 104 80 1989 9.9 6.2 2.4 0.9 0.3 19.7 1990 11.7 10.9 3.5 2.1 0.5 28.7