BAADER at the Fish Waste for Profit 2022 Conference

Fish Waste for Profit 2022 was the 4th edition of the Icelandic Fisheries Conference that run alongside the IceFish Exhibition from 9-10 June 2022. Dennis Lohmann, Technology Manager at BAADER joined the exclusive get-together as a keynote speaker.

Earlier this year during the Global Seafood Processing 2022 in Barcelona, BAADER joined the Iceland Ocean Cluster as a vivid expression of its commitment to actively reduce waste within the fish industry.

In his presentation, Lohmann emphasized the role BAADER can play in paving the way toward the industrial implementation of innovative food processing concepts that contribute to a 100% fish utilization rate.

Describing the status quo of the fish processing technology landscape, he stresses that the main focus still lies on optimal handling and further efficiency increase of main product handling. A significant number of side-streams are often discarded or used as only low-value ingredients in animal feed.

“Tons of co-products containing minerals, high-quality proteins, valuable derivatives and oils are created through this process but are mainly untapped for human consumption”, highlights Dennis Lohmann.

The rising demand for marine resources and our clear commitment to conserving resources for ecological and social sustainability are our drivers. With the right industrial processing methods, it is possible to target hidden waste and to introduce untapped resources into the value chain, Lohmann describes the BAADER approach towards zero-waste.

He argues that gaining value from main products and value-adding co-products is possible through the right combination of processing and further processing when co-products are extracted and captured correctly.

The cycle of fish product processing and co-product extraction from heading to packaging

Lohmann said: “More value is achievable from fewer resources by increasing the utilization rate of every processed fish. Co-product handling can generate significant growth in seafood processing, creates new seafood products and ensures zero waste in the entire process”.

Efficient utilization and valorization of co-products

This understanding led to a project dedicated to creating a higher value at an industrial scale that Lohmann shared with the audience in his second part of the keynote.

The joint project by BAADER and GEA promotes efficient utilization and valorization of co-products by increasing nutrients and functional compounds while reducing waste. It improves the value of rest meat that can be recovered from fish backbones along the filleting line.

BAADER refiner converts rest meat into fish mince. Since the BAADERING process is gentle, there is reduced mechanical stress on the fish mince and preserved muscle fibre structure when sorting the product from fishbone, skin, cartilage, and other impurities.  Fine and coarsely structured materials can be added for an attractive product with dominant coarse.

For more utilization, fish mince can be (1) mechanically de-fatted by decantation, and afterwards (2) the liquid phase can be rendered via a centrifuge to high-quality fish oil, rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA. Consequently, the creation of two end-products from a co-product is a threshold in sustainable food production.

Increased value of co-products in one to three process steps

In Figure 3, the separation process obtains mincemeat and bones. Afterwards, the mincemeat can be de-pressed and the bones processed for collagen, calcium, and gelatins. Pressed mincemeat can be decomposed into dewatered dryer meat and a mix of water and oil.  Dry meat has a higher utilization potential compared to mincemeat. The water-oil mix contains water and high-value fish oil. With a GEA centrifuge, we separate the water and extract cold-pressed fish oil. This produces a high-value product through three processing steps.

From rest meat recovery to high-value cold-pressed fish oil

The presentation gained wide interest among participants. Various discussions with start-ups as well as research institutes followed. BAADER is convinced, that it is through these engagements that those small players can accelerate their innovative co-product handling solutions when coordinated with an industrial player like BAADER.