12. Preservation, Marketing and Economics

1. 12. Preservation, Marketing and Economics Dan Minchin Marine Organism Investigations, Ireland Coastal Research and Planning Institute, University of Klaipeda, Lithuania. September/November 2013

2. OUTLINE • Developing a product • How to market your product • Economic issues

3. Shelf life • Organic products have a limited life • The best before date does not mean that subsequent to this date the food is unsafe to eat! • To extend the shelf life various methods are used • Many of these developed out of necessity at an early time because of seasonal production • Many of these early methods are still valid to-day

4. Preservation • Resource development • Small scale to large scale management • Saving excesses • Reducing wastage • Extending life of products • Development of products for sale • Many preservations methods

5. SALTING • Draws moisture from the tissues • Slows spoilage by micro-organisms and fungi • Retards oxidation of fats preventing a rancid product • Can firm flesh texture when used later • Examples: Cod

6. DRYING • Reduces water sufficiently to prevnt bacterial growth • Examples: Stockfish - gadoid fishes

7. SMOKING • Smoke is anti-oxidant and anti-microbal • Does not penetrate far into flesh • Often accompanied by drying • Artificial ‘smoke’ liquids used on some products • Many species high in fat • Examples: salmon, trout, mackerel, eel Possible risk of Colo-rectal cancer: Knekt et al., 1999. Int. J. Cancer 80(6): 852-856

8. REFRIGERATION • Slows down the growth of micro-organisms and enzyme reactions that cause food to rot • Very useful in warm regions • Ice achieves the same result • Used for majority of aquatic products • Examples: most fishes, crustacea and molluscs

9. FREEZING • Extends shelf life • May alter quality • Economic • Can involve long term storage of some products • Examples: most aquatic species

10. VACUUM PACKING • Removal of air within an air tight bag or bottle • Slows spoilage as many bacterial require oxygen • Short-term storage of fish products and kept cool • Examples: mainly fresh aquatic produce

11. PICKLING • Product in an edible anti-microbal liquid • Brine, vinegar, alcohol, vegetable oils, lactic acid • May be cooked beforehand • Examples: herring, pike, carp

12. CANNING & BOTTLING • Cooking food and sealing it • Results in sterilisation eliminating spoiling organisms • Care need as can be conducive for the anerobe Clostridium botulinum • Examples: sardines, salmon, fish eggs

13. Other methods • Jellying – gelatin and agar based (eels, siphunculids) • Lye – use of sodium hydroxide (Lutefisk) high odour! • Potting – heated and sealed with fat (shrimp) • Jugging – stewing (not known) • Irradiation – ionising radiation (mainly spices, herbs) • Pulsed electric field processing – low temperature pasturisation (not known) • Modified atmosphere – gasses, humidity (transport of live products) • High-pressure food preservation – 500+Bar (developing technology) • Burial in ground – desiccation (Greenland shark) • Controlled micro-organisms – micro-organisms that combat spoilage (beer) • Biopreservation – lactic acid bacteria • Hurdle technology – elimination of pathogens from food

14. BURIAL • Hakarl – fermented shark • Poisonous when fresh (uric acid, tri-methyamine oxide) • Beheaded and placed in shallow gravelly hole and pressed with stones • The shark ferments in 6-12 weeks, removed and dried

15. MARKETING • This varies according to: • Climate • Economic circumstances • Resource availability • Seasonality • Ethnic preference • Social attitude

16. Regional marketing • In Spain • large volumes few species • pilchard fishery important • buyers from a large region • pilchard a primary fish product

17. Mercury in fish • In long lived deep water and pelagic predators • An event in Japan caused a serious nervous disease in ~1000 people • Condition is known as minamata disease • High levels known from swordfish, shark, tuna & tilefish

18. Common names and marketing: Cod

19. Marketed as halibut

20. Product labelling can be confusing

21. Fish fingers • Marketing will depend on the name • Rat-tails advertised in the 1980’s as a deep water fish for general consumtion • The name was changed to grenadier fish

22. Consumer demand for colour Astaxanthin – from wild crustacea Synthetically made from carotene for farmed fish

23. Ethnic preferences • Tokyo fish market: • sea squirt/tunicate product • farmed off Honshu • local consumption

24. Ethnic preferences can cause problems elsewhere • Philippines town market: • the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea • widely distributed • widely traded • spread to North America by Chinese • now in Europe • not eaten by Europeans • highly invasive impacting species

25. National preferences • The periwinkle Littorina littorea • eaten in France, Britain and Ireland • not eaten in Scandinavian countries • foraged for on shores • survives alive a long time • so can be widely distributed

26. Quality products • Spain • need to know origin • need to know locality • need to know when collected • must be carefully washed • must be carefully packed • no contaminants by other species

27. Markets need to be organised • The Tokyo fish market: • transport management • storage • facilities: running sea and fresh water • waste removal • truck drivers • auctioneers • buyers • speciality shopkeepers (eggs, ink..) • cleaners • police • butchers • cooks

28. Tuna • Tokyo fish market: • imported from all world regions • flown-in fresh • careful freezing process • variable quality with variable prices • careful examination before sales • bidding very keen • specialised places for carving flesh • specialised knives • the nematode Anasakis not tolerated

29. Live products at market • Tokyo fish market: • live fish • live molluscs • live crayfish

30. Speciality markets: fugu • The puffer fish restaurant: • require a licence and degree • toxin, tetradontotoxin in liver • also in other body tissues • must be carefully prepared • other products, fins in sake!

31. LOCAL MARKETS • Oldest marketing • Mainly in remote regions • Local produce • Seasonal, dried and salted TRADING BLOCKS • Communications enhanced distribution INTERNATIONAL TRADE • Worldwide products • Often epicurean

32. The product • What do consumers want? • New products • Extension of existing products • Few ‘new’ products succeed • Continuity of supply • Product quality • Cultural preferences • Promotions • Distribution • Price

33. Marketing and economics • The Philippines local marketing: • no or low transport costs • limited number of products • quality management poor • presentation basic • family business, culture to sales • Tokyo fish market: • products from all world regions • many specialised products • high quality • careful presentation • small and large businesses

34. ECONOMICS • Raw product availability (seasonality and continued supply) • Production costs • Marketing costs • Transport costs • Shelf-life • Advertising and promotion costs

35. What do consumers want? • What type of consumers are you targeting • Basic to epicure foods • Highly specialised foods • Uncontaminated product

36. Market preparation • What to do before sale: • often time consuming • increase product value • reduces transport costs • may reduce shelf-life

37. Product availability • Shellfish toxin events not always predictable • Marketing may cease if toxins exceed a safe level • National programmes for monitoring toxins • Prolonged events can endanger viable production • Unmonitored and unauthorised marketing can cause marketing problems for the entire industry

38. Caring for the product • Tokyo fish market: • careful preparation • small sized portions • specialised packing materials • label of origin

39. Promotion • Advertising • Promotion samples • Follow-up • Good and bad outlets • Markets or direct supply • Presentation and labelling • Business management • Taxation and returns

40. New product development • Underexploited resources • ‘Unused’ bycatch (i.e. Brama brama) • Improved energy supply (i.e. freezing) • Different processing methods (i.e. suremi) • Greater availability of resource (i.e. Rapana)

41. New product development • Aquatic species biotechnology • New drugs from the deep

42. Presentation • In Japan • careful preparation • high quality for take-away meals • high quality for fast restaurants

43. Taste panel assessments • To evaluate differences, requires a control • Range of options 4+ (like extremely) to 4- disgusting • Appearance • Aroma • Texture • Flavour • Quality of shellfish following an oilspill

44. Failure of some products • Looks/tastes /sounds unappealing • Ethnic preferences • National preferences • Not promoted • Poorly marketed • Cost inefficient • Mortality in production • Poor recruitment in production • Bad management Mislabelled fish products April 2011: 6% of fish species not recorded on supermarket products. Cheap fishes added to products with higher demands. Independant study undertaken using DNA

45. Developing a product from alien species

46. Place • Can the consumer readily obtain the product? • Can it be distributed practically, or will it spoil? • Does the product carry any unwanted problems? • Does the product need further development?

47. Specialised products that compromise • The Freshwater eel Anguilla: • glass-eel stage harvested from the wild • seasonal fishery • glass eels also used in aquaculture • unsustainable resource • Atlantic stocks may not survive a century

48. WHAT IS IT?

49. IT IS THE : - Peanut worm, a siphunculid Delicacy in Xiamen, China ENJOY YOUR MEAL