Seafood

Just like this penguin, most of us just can not resist the temptation of a delicious bite of seafood!
In all the countries around the Caribbean Sea seafood is a popular treat, with a high nutritional value.

Fishing has been the traditional method to obtain seafood, but these days also in the Caribbean
fish farms have been established. Seafood is consumed locally, but also exported to the United
States and Canada and increasingly to Europe as well.

Processing

Fresh seafood has a limited shelf life before it spoils. The shelf life can be extended by
cold storage, but some seafood, particularly shrimp, has a shelf life of only a few days
even when packed in ice.
In seafood processing extension of shelf life is an important issue.
Some of the products used in the processing are:

Sodium metabisulfite

Sodium metabisulfite, or sodium as it is often called in the industry, is widely used in
the processing of seafood, especially shrimp, to retard Melanosis, or black spot. This
is an ailment that afflicts shrimp and results in the appearance of black spots, which is
an indication of loss of freshness to the consumer.
Standard practice is to treat shrimp with a dilute solution of sodium metabisulfite just
after the shrimp are harvested, and often again during the preparation and packaging
steps prior to shipment.
Drawbacks of sodium metabisulfite can be an odour of sulfur dioxide in the product
and possibly allergy of workers during processing, and as a result alternative products
are being promoted (often including sodium hydrogen sulphite, sodium ascorbate,
potassium citrate and citric acid) but the use of sodium metabisulfite as a shrimp
preservative has continued however, because it is very effective.

Phosphates

Consumers prefer seafood of high quality, which is why phosphates are used in the
processing of seafood. Favourable effects of phosphates are:

• retention of moisture (weight!)
• retention of flavour
• retention of texture
• retention of appearance
• stabilization of the colour
• extension of its shelf life

This is very important, not only for economic reasons (seafood is sold by weight) but
also for the quality of the final product (undesirable appearance of the product, size
reduction in cooking and loss of the sensorial attributes (juice, texture and colour)
make the seafood less attractive.
Sodium Tripolyphosphate (STPP) is commonly used, but phosphate blends specially
developed for seafood processing are becoming increasingly popular. Carnal 659S, a
combination of sodium di-, tri- and polyphosphates is such a product, and has become the
product of choice for many processors, even being required by quite some purchasers of
seafood!

Salt

Salt, or sodium chloride, is one of the basic tastes, the most popular food spice and an
important preservative. For these reasons it is widely used, especially in the
processing of fish it is widely used.

Sodium Nitrite

Sodium nitrite is used as a color fixative and preservative in the processing of fish.
Besides the pure product, we can also supply you with salt with sodium nitrite.

Chemelco has been supplying seafood processors for many years, and can help
you source the above mentioned products, as well as many others.

Let us know if you have any questions: we will be more than happy to assist you.
Looking forward to your enquiries!

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