Processing of marine foods

For the Norwegian fish industry, it is an objective to increase the production of value added products in order to improve profitability. This paper will briefly present four areas of important research tasks in this field. To aid in the identification of the species present in a product, we have applied the method called Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD). This technique is used to produce a fingerprint of DNA contained in the sample. The application of DNA typing for species identification in fish products is presented. The nutritional aspects of foods are important. Although the low death rate from coronary heart disease among the Eskimos of Greenland has been suggested to stem in large part from their consumption of fish, one should keep in mind that the daily diet of Eskimos living in the traditional way consists of substantial quantities of meat and fat (blubber) from seals and whales. A recent study as to whether seal and whale oils are more effective than cod liver oil in changing biological parameters that might be important in explaining low incidence of coronary heart disease, asthma and psoriasis among Greenland Eskimos will be presented. Commercial processing of fish must take the development of rigor mortis into consideration since it affects yield and fish flesh quality. Influence of early processing (pre-rigor) on fish quality and yield is also discussed. There are significant differences among fish species in gross chemical composition and morphological structure. Depending on the properties of the flesh and the way it is treated, it may gain or lose water. The relationship between structure and liquid-holding properties of cod and salmon muscle as a function of temperature is presented.