Fish is an exceptionally important component of the human diet and an enormous

industry exists to provide a huge variety of consumer products in which fish is a

major component. These offerings range from whole fish, large and small, to
pieces of fish such as cuts and fillets, to canned fish in a multitude of forms, to
dried and cured products, to fish oils and extracts, to frozen portions and
complete meals through to reformed and gelled products. The list is enormous,
the variety even within one product type is extensive and the range of species
used as food runs well into the thousands. Each of these variations and
combinations presents a huge matrix of possibilities, opportunities and problems.
Over the last 80 or so years, fish technologists and scientists have been
endeavouring to draw some general rules from observation and experimentation
on fish and fish products to control and predict their properties under a vast
variety of circumstances. The two main driving themes for these efforts have
been in safety and quality expressed mostly in terms of measurable properties.
This volume picks up these driving themes to cover major issues in safety and
quality that are not only important topics of investigation relevant to industry
today but that will continue to be important into the future. Each author is an
expert in their own particular field and they have summed up the situation to
provide a current benchmark of existing knowledge. In addition they have
pointed to solutions to problems, where they exist, and have also indicated
current gaps in the knowledge base and described research and investigations
required to capitalise and expand on this base. In many instances they have
described how new understandings, approaches and technologies will have
impact and thus effect change in the way operations are carried out to provide
better, safer and more stable products with greater surety than previously. It has
also been important to describe how one area may relate to another, for example
1
Introduction
H. Allan Bremner, Allan Bremner and Associates, Mount Coolum
how improvements in analytical techniques have increased understanding of
composition, properties, nutritional attributes and of contamination and that this
information is relevant to safety and quality considerations.
The volume is organised into three major sections concerned with Ensuring safe
products, Analysing quality attributes and, Improving quality within the supply
chain. In the first part, relating to safety, the chapters deal with the over-riding issue
of ensuring that the fish products are safe for human consumption. The volume is not
concerned per se with safety of the processes themselves with regard to premises,
vessels, installations, machinery and personnel except where this impinges on the
product, or the perception of the product, but does include reference to factors such
as allergies in process staff. Safety in the context of this volume means freedom from
pathogenic organisms at infective levels including parasites. It also covers
contaminants such as heavy metals and other residues, allergens and toxins. These
are viewed from the perspectives of detection, identification, quantitation, evaluation
and implication. As such this includes aspects of processing, safety management and
risk assessment. Risk assessment and control is covered by outlining and emphasis-
ing the value of the HACCP approach and by providing examples of how this is done
in practice to establish conditions to minimise risk and to ensure a safe product.
Although this volume has the word quality in the title, the intent is that the word
is not used vaguely as a catch all term and endeavour has been made throughout
each contribution to try to be specific and to be exact wherever possible. Thus the
section on analysis of quality includes discussion on the use of this term and of the
commonly used terms freshness and shelf-life to set the scene for chapters on the
major causative factors of change in properties of fish products in all forms
whether raw, stored, part-processed or finished product. These major factors are
covered in chapters dealing with modelling of the effects of the extrinsic bacterial
agents involved in spoilage, elaboration of the roles of the intrinsic enzymes, and
the processes of oxidation all of which affect one or more properties.
The third section on improvements starts with a fresh look at managing quality
along the whole supply chain and then includes quality management of stored
fish and of frozen fish and the factors that affect shelf-life. Correct identification
of species is included here as it is an important part of business and regulatory
practice but it also relates to safety and to analytical improvements. The newer
non-thermal technologies using high pressures are summarised and an up-to-date
understanding of the ancient, but incidental, practice of using lactobacilli as a
preservation technique and the equally ancient, but more deliberate, technique of
drying fish to preserve them is covered. The final chapter deals extensively with
more efficient utilisation and contains a wealth of ideas on this aspect.
The volume is aimed at several levels as it contains information that is both
current and very relevant to future practices. Each chapter is extensively
referenced with key information. The book is aimed at being a substantial
addition to industry, institutional, research and personal libraries. It will be
invaluable for industry technologists, consultants, researchers, graduate and
post-graduate students and for government authorities involved in regulation or
inspection and control.
2 Safety and quality issues in fish processing