PROCESSING SMOKED FRESHWATER FISH PRODUCTS AND

MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS IN

THE GREAT LAKES AND NORTHEASTERN REGIONS
OF THE UNITED STATES

Kentucky producers face challenges in entering the developing aquaculture

industry due to high capital and variable costs and limited infrastructure. Species
such as hybrid striped bass and paddlefish have been introduced to help improve
revenue through diversified production. Although smoked salmon is by far the
most available value-added product on the market, there is a need for
diversification in the smoked fish market, a niche that could be filled by cultured
freshwater fish. This project explored markets for value-added, smoked Kentucky
farm-raised catfish, hybrid striped bass and paddlefish.

Final Report

Contact:
Angela Caporelli
Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture
Aquaculture Coordinator and Marketing Specialist
502-564-4983
angela.caporelli@ky.gov

Processing Smoked Freshwater Fish Products and Market Development of these

Value- Added Products in the Great Lakes and Northeast Regions of the United
States

Final Report to USDA FSMIP

Angela Caporelli, Kentucky Department of Agriculture

Steven D. Mims,
Kentucky State University,
Aquaculture Research Center,
Frankfort, KY 40601

Summary of Activities and Milestones:

Production of consumer-safe smoked fish products were developed and prepared

for evaluation by wholesaler, retailer and restaurant owners.

Delivered smoked fish samples to evaluate perception of potential buyers,

provided outreach program for future chefs to be more knowledgeable of
freshwater aquaculture, and availability of potential freshwater fish for purchase
and utilized their skills in developing recipes for consumer satisfaction of cultured
freshwater fishes.

Interstate marketing of smoked fish that were farmed-raised appears to have

positive opportunity. Information transfer was accomplished for commercial
testing and distribution. Paddlefish was identified to be most attractive to the
buyers because of its unique food characteristics (white, firm texture and boneless
meat).

Proposed Research Results:

Objective 1: To determine the effect of brining methods on the water phase salt content
of fresh and frozen catfish, paddlefish and striped bass fillet to meet FDA guidelines for
smoked products.
Optimizing brining conditions were conducted so the smoked fish products will have
adequate amount of water-phase salt content (>3.5%) or water activity less than 0.97.
First, we determined that fillets of catfish and largemouth bass could be brined in 10%
salt solution overnight, while paddlefish fillets (thicker fillets) needed to be brined for 24
hours in similar brining solution. We conducted a focus group study with 12 experienced
chefs in collaboration with the Southeast Culinary Association. The chefs strongly favor

a smoked whole fish product instead of the smoked fillets. Therefore, we focused more
on a blocked paddlefish (i.e. decapitated, gutted and skinned) also known as a bullet.
Since the bullet is thick and difficult for the salt to penetrate through, we initially
determined that it should be brined in a vacuum tumbler at 15 mm Hg for 60-90 minutes,
in order for the products to attain enough salt in the thickest part. Increasing the vacuum
setting to 25 mm Hg, a 60-minute interval was adequate to achieve the desired waterphase salt content in the final products. Another study was also conducted to test the
feasibility of adding sugar to the brine solution. It was found that increasing sugar
content from 92.5g. to 370g/3.75 liter of brine decreased the water-phase salt content but
the water activity of the products stayed within the safe range. Therefore, it is possible to
use additional sugar in the brine to modify the salty taste without compromising the
safety of the products.
Milestone: Production of consumer-safe smoked fish products were developed and
prepared for evaluation by wholesaler, retailer and restaurant owners.

Future Work:
Transfer information to Aquaculture of Kentucky, Inc. for commercial testing and
distribution.

Objective 2: To elicit perceptions of wholesale, retail, and restaurant buyers of smoked

catfish, paddlefish and hybrid striped bass. Wholesale buyers, fish retailers, and
restaurants were surveyed in Kentucky Businesses (KBs) and the Great Lakes
Businesses (GLB) areas to evaluate their perceptions of the three types of smoked fish.
Results were received from 37 wholesale, retail and restaurant buyers. Smoked fish
samples were taste tested and products evaluated. Results showed a significant

difference in perceptions based upon the two geographic locations of the respondents.
More GLBs respondents habitually purchase smoked fish from individual suppliers,
while all smoked fish buyers of KBs purchase from wholesale suppliers. With respect to
product ratings, smoked catfish compared poorly to the other products, while hybrid
striped bass and paddlefish were rated relatively highly. Most buyers considered the
appearance of whole-smoked paddlefish to be superior to the other fish types, and they
felt that the paddlefish compared well with more traditional smoked fish such as
sturgeon.
Further, lectures on aquaculture and introduction of potential smoked fish
products to future chefs and their instructors was accomplished at The Chef Academy,
Culinary Division, Indiana Business College, Indianapolis. There were over 60 students
and instructors who participated in a taste test of the three smoked fishes. Paddlefish
drew much attention due to its unique meat characteristics. Several recipes were
developed (see attachments).
Milestones: Delivered smoked fish samples to potential buyers for evaluation,
provided outreach program for future chefs to be more knowledgeable of
freshwater aquaculture, availability of potential freshwater fish for purchase and
utilization of their skills in developing recipes for consumer satisfaction of cultured
freshwater fishes.

Future: Smoked paddlefish was the favorite product of potential buyers. Additional
marinates and flavors are being tested to further advance the market potential of
this product.

Objective 3: To determine prices, product forms, size, packaging, etc. for smoked
catfish, paddlefish and hybrid striped bass that would be acceptable to the above
buyers.
Generally, GLBs ascribed lower importance to smoked seafood attributes such as price,
packaging, and origin than KBs. This is because GLBs have a wider selection of smoked
seafood and a much more varied consumer demand than KBs. Hence, the results indicate
that it would be easier to sell smoked freshwater fish in GLBs. However, the lack of
importance that GLBs attributed to having farm-raised fishes indicates that it is likely that
GLBs are featuring wild-caught seafood , which are typically less expensive than
aquaculture seafood. Paddlefish would have an advantage over the other two cultured
fishes (i.e. channel catfish and hybrid striped bass) because paddlefish as a filter feeder is
less expensive to culture, not requiring expensive diets, and could better compete in the
GLBs that use wild-caught fish.
Further, results suggest that KBs would be more likely candidates for smoked
paddlefish than GLBs. Wholesale buyers exhibited a good perception towards smoked
paddlefish. However, a few caveats to marketing smoked paddlefish emerge from the
survey: namely, KBs are more willing to purchase smoked fish fillets than whole-smoked
fish and wholesalers are very particular of product packaging than other types of smoked
seafood buyers. The full report of the survey is attached.
Milestones: Interstate marketing of smoked fish that were farmed-raised appears to
have positive opportunity. Paddlefish was identified to be most attractive to the
buyers because of its unique food characteristics (white, firm texture and boneless
meat).

Published Abstracts and Presentations:

Wang, C., L. Huang, R.J. Onders, S. D. Mims and A. Caporelli 2008. Developing safe
value added products from aquacultural fishes. Presented to Joint 1890 AEA/ARD
Conference: Addressing Universal Issues through Science and Engagement, Memphis,
June 8-11, 2008.
Wang, S., L. Huang, R.O. Onders, S.D. Mims, C. Butler and C. Wang. 2007. Brine
strength and brining time influence salt content of smoked paddlefish meat. Presented to
the Annual Meeting of Kentucky Academy of Science, Louisville, Nov. 8-10, 2007.
Kia Rodriguez , Cecil Butler, Lingyu Huang, Changzheng Wang, R.O. Onders and S.D.
Mims. 2008. Sugar modifies the water activity and water-phase salt content of smoked
paddlefish meat. Presented to the Annual Meeting of Kentucky Academy of Science,
Lexington, Nov. 5-6, 2008.
Dasgupta, S, S.D. Mims, and J. Greene. In press. Buyer Preferences for Smoked
Freshwater Fish. Aqua 09 Conference, Seattle, WA.
Wang, C., L. Huang, C. Butler, R. J. Onders and S.D. Mims. In press. Developing
Value-added Products from Paddlefish Meat. Aqua 09 Conference, Seattle, WA.

Budget Description

Total
Requested

Total Equipment and

Travel

$15,850

Total Supplies

$10,760

In-Kind
Match

$22,500

$2,250

Labor
Total Personnel
KSU overhead 25%

$26,000

$38,080
$ 9,520

Total

$52,610

$72,350

Attachments

Buyer Perceptions of Smoked Freshwater Fish: A Statistical Analysis

Complete Report

Descriptive Results
Of 37 useful responses, 82% indicate that they regularly bought or produced
smoked fish. Among those businesses that did purchase/produce smoked fish, 12 were
located around the Great Lakes, hereafter known as Great Lakes Businesses (or GLB),
and 16 were in Kentucky, hereafter known as Kentucky Businesses (or KB). Many
characteristics of the respondent businesses were summarized in Table 1. Most of the
businesses were either retailers or wholesalers, with 25 employees or less. Patrons of
these businesses were mostly individual consumers, followed by retail stores and
restaurant/food service outfits.
The data indicated that GLBs purchased/produced 23,500 lb of smoked fish
annually (on average); the corresponding figure for KBs was 3,075 lb/year, on average
(mean of aggregated data = 11,829 lb/year). Table 2 shows typical annual smoked
seafood inventory of GLBs and KBs in terms of types of seafood. Clearly smoked
salmon was the most popular item, followed, at a distant second, by smoked trout. Some
businesses had smoked tuna, sturgeon, chubs, halibut, whitefish, etc. on inventory. Two
KBs indicates that they had smoked paddlefish on inventory; one KB indicated that they
featured smoked catfish and hybrid striped bass.
Table 3 indicates the different smoked seafood product forms that the respondents
have as a percentage of typical annual smoked seafood inventory. Smoked fish fillets
were most popular, followed by whole smoked fish. Table 3 shows that GLBs have a

greater proclivity to feature whole-smoked fish and smoked fish steaks. This is an
important observation because the production economics of smoked fish indicate that it is
significantly cost effective to have whole-smoked fish or fish steaks as a final product,
instead of smoked fillets. In addition, paddlefish, which is boneless, is just as acceptable
in the whole-smoked or steak form than in the fillet form, particularly because many
prefer fillets due to their not having any bones.
The different sources of smoked seafood purchased by the respondent businesses
were summarized in Table 4. Clearly, wholesalers were the most important source for
smoked seafood; however, GLBs purchased 39%-40% of their inventory from individual
fish smokehouses, while none of KBs inventory was obtained from this source. A larger
percentage of KBs produced their own smoked seafood.
Regression Results
Table 5 outlines estimated coefficients (and their statistical significance), in
conjunction with goodness-of-fit measures, for a regressions involving eight response
variables with respect to four regressors. The response variables represented the degree
of importance placed by the respondents on different attributes of smoked fish, such as,
price, packaging, whether the fish was a marine species, whether the fish was bony or
boneless, whether the fish was wild caught or farm raised, and the country of origin of the
fish. The regressors indicated respondent characteristics that could affect their
perceptions about smoked seafood, such as their location (GLB vs. KB), size of smoked
seafood business (proxy variable: average amount of smoked seafood purchased
annually), business type (proxy variable: whether the business is a wholesaler or not), and
willingness to feature whole smoked fish.

Table 5 indicates that respondent location significantly affected their perception

of smoked seafood price: GLBs collectively placed a significantly lower importance to
price. Similarly, with respect to product packaging, GLBs placed less importance that
corresponding respondents from Kentucky. Table 5 shows that wholesale businesses
placed significantly higher importance on product packaging than non-wholesale
businesses.
Table 5 indicates that GLBs placed a significantly lower importance on whether
they featured smoked marine fish or freshwater fish. This result must be considered in
conjunction with the fact that many GLBs sell freshwater fish from the Great Lakes as
part of their typical inventory. Similarly GLBs placed a lower importance on whether the
smoked fish was boneless. The results also show that respondents with higher percentage
of whole smoked fish in their inventory placed greater importance as to whether the
smoked fish was bony or not.
Table 5 indicates respondent opinions towards smoked fish that were wild-caught
versus farm-raised. The results show that GLBs placed (significantly) lower importance
on the origins of the fish over KBs. In addition, businesses that sold more smoked fish
placed a lower importance as to the origins of the fish. Wholesalers placed significantly
lower importance on whether the smoked fish was an aquaculture product. GLBs and
those businesses that sold a higher percentage of whole smoked fish placed a
significantly lower importance on the country of origin of smoked seafood products.
Table 6 reports any systematic impacts of business characteristics on their
opinions about attributes of smoked catfish, hybrid striped bass, and paddlefish. For each
type of fish, the list of attributes includes appearance, texture, taste and odor. The

regression results in Table 6 include those regressions which produced statistically

significant slope coefficients. Businesses that sold larger volumes of smoked fish had a
significantly lower opinion of the appearance, texture, taste, and odor of smoked catfish.
GLBs had a significantly lower perception of the odor of smoked hybrid striped bass and
paddlefish, and the texture of smoked paddlefish. However, Table 6 reports that
wholesalers exhibited a significantly higher preference towards smoked paddlefish odor.
Conclusions
One main conclusion from the results of the buyer survey was that GLBs and KBs
had very polarized views about smoked seafood. Generally, GLBs ascribed lower
importance to smoked seafood attributes such as price, packaging, and origin than KBs.
This is because GLBs have a wider selection of smoked seafood and a much more varied
consumer demand than KBs. Hence, Table 5 indicates that it would be easier to sell
smoked freshwater fish in GLBs. However, the lack of importance that GLBs attributed
to having farm-raised fish, indicates that it is likely that GLBs are featuring wild-caught
seafood, which are typically less expensive than aquaculture seafood.
Table 6 indicates that KBs would be more likely candidates for smoked
paddlefish than GLBs. Wholesale buyers exhibited a good perception towards smoked
paddlefish. However, a few caveats to marketing smoked paddlefish emerge from Table
5 and 6: namely, KBs are more willing to purchase smoked fish fillets than wholesmoked fish and wholesalers are very particular of product packaging than other types of
smoked seafood buyers.

Table 1. Characteristics of smoke seafood sellers surveyed in this project.

Great Lakes

Kentucky

Businesses

Businesses

Aggregate

Type of business
Wholesaler

Retailer

16

23

Restaurant

11

18

29

26-50 employees

51-100 employees

101 or more

3.13%

4.17%

3.69%

Retailers

22.13%

2.22%

11.59%

Restaurants/food

11.25%

11.11%

11.18%

63.19%

82.50%

73.49%

Number of employees
25 or less

Types of customersa
Wholesalers

service
Consumers
a

Expressed as a percentage of the total number of customers.

Table 2. Average annual smoked seafood inventory expressed as a percentage of total

smoked seafood inventory.
Great Lakes

Kentucky

Businesses

Businesses

Smoked salmon

Aggregate

67.08%

75.63%

71.96%

Smoked trout

6.83%

8.75%

7.93%

Smoked tuna

0.50%

3.13%

2.00%

Smoked shellfish

2.17%

0.00%

0.93%

10.00%

12.50%

11.43%

Other smoked seafooda

a

Other smoked seafood examples: smoked sturgeon, smoked halibut, smoked seabass,

smoked mackerel, smoked chubs, smoked whitefish, kippers, etc.

Table 3. Average annual smoked seafood inventory available in different product forms,
expressed as a percentage of total smoked seafood inventory.
Great Lakes

Kentucky

Businesses

Businesses

Aggregate

Whole smoked fish

15.17%

12.81%

13.82%

Smoked fillets

67.33%

81.56%

75.46%

Smoked fish steaks

6.42%

0.00%

2.75%

Other product forma

11.08%

5.63%

7.96%

Other smoked seafood product forms include: smoked de-boned fish, smoked fish

spreads and dips, and smoked shellfish.

Table 4. Average annual smoked seafood obtained from different types of suppliers,
expressed as a percentage of total smoked seafood inventory.
Type of supplier

Individual fish smoking

Great Lakes

Kentucky

Businesses

Businesses

Aggregate

39.50%

0.00%

16.93%

Importers

6.67%

0.00%

2.86%

Brokers

0.00%

4.06%

2.32%

52.58%

89.69%

73.79%

1.25%

6.25%

4.11%

businesses

Wholesalers
Othersa
a

Other sources primarily include businesses that produce smoked seafood themselves.

Table 5. Effects of business characteristics on their perceptions about smoked seafood attributes.
Results indicate estimated coefficients (and corresponding p-values) of OLS-regressions of
smoked seafood attributes on various respondent characteristics. (N= 26)
Response variables

Regressors
Intercept GreatLakesb Amountc

Product Pricea
R2=66.36%; A-R2 = 57.91%
Product Packaging
R2=65.61%; A-R2 = 57.01%
Smoked Marine Fish
R2=61.28%; A-R2 = 51.60%
Smoked Bony Fish
R2=34.87%; A-R2 = 18.59%
Smoked Boneless Fish
R2=33.62%; A-R2 = 17.03%
Smoked Wild-Caught Fish
R2=76.97%; A-R2 = 71.21%
Smoked Farmed Fish
R2=50.99%; A-R2 = 38.74%
Product Country of Origin
R2=56.92%; A-R2 = 46.15%

Wholesalerd WholeFish%e

9.099

-2.584

-0.00003

0.432

0.003

( .01%)

(0.03%)

(34.98%)

(63.79%)

(80.85%)

9.685

-3.724

-0.00004

1.942

-0.012

( .01%)

( .01%)

(35.60%)

(7.80%)

(33.31%)

8.864

-5.676

-0.00006

0.429

-0.021

( .01%)

( .01%)

(38.34%)

(80.55%)

(30.15%)

5.206

-2.147

-0.00003

-0.367

0.067

( .01%)

(13.84%)

(69.70%)

(86.11%)

(1.23%)

9.722

-2.174

-0.00008

0.585

-0.017

( .01%)

(5.31%)

(20.34%)

(71.40%)

(35.83%)

9.600

-3.524

-0.00009

0.462

-0.002

( .01%)

( .01%)

(0.60%)

(54.59%)

(88.06%)

7.997

-4.253

0.00005

-3.142

-0.009

( .01%)

(0.08%)

(37.42%)

(6.46%)

(60.63%)

9.422

-2.695

-0.00002

2.100

-0.047

( .01%)

(0.62%)

(63.72%)

(12.52%)

(0.54%)

Table 5. Continued.
a

Each attribute is measured on a Likert scale: 0 (attribute unimportant) to 10 (attribute extremely

important). Below each attribute, goodness-of-fit measures of the corresponding regression such
as the R2 and Adjusted R2 are provided.
b

GreatLakes is a dummy variable which is equal to 1 if the business is located in the Great

Lakes region, and 0 if it is located in Kentucky.

c

Amount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood that each business normally purchases and/or

produces per year.

d

Wholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is a wholesaler; otherwise it is

0.
e

WholeFish % is a continuous variable that indicates the percentage of the total annual smoked

seafood inventory that is in the form of whole-smoked fish.

Table 6. Effects of business characteristics on their perceptions about attributes of

smoked catfish, hybrid striped bass (HSB), and paddlefish. Results indicate estimated
coefficients (and corresponding p-values) of OLS-regressions of smoked seafood
attributes on various respondent characteristics. (N= 28)
Response variables

Regressors
Intercept

Smoked Catfish

GreatLakes Amount

Wholesaler WholeFish%

6.428

0.329

-0.00004

0.547

0.009

( .01%)

(78.00%)

(3.34%)

(71.00%)

(64.30%)

6.853

-0.351

-0.00004

1.385

0.009

( .01%)

(71.00%)

(0.80%)

(25.90%)

(59.50%)

7.802

-1.072

-0.00004

1.339

0.006

( .01%)

(25.40%)

(0.80%)

(27.00%)

(73.30%)

8.248

-1.423

-0.00004

2.087

-0.009

( .01%)

(14.97%)

(0.50%)

(10.51%)

(60.82%)

Smoked HSB Odor

8.522

-1.301

-0.00002

1.350

-0.013

R2=32.05%; A-R2 =

( .01%)

(8.18%)

(10.30%)

(15.84%)

(31.52%)

Appearancea
R2=21.00%; A-R2 =
3.00%
Smoked Catfish
Texture
R2=30.31%; A-R2 =
15.08%
Smoked Catfish Taste
R2=36.00%; A-R2 =
21.45%
Smoked Catfish Odor
R2=40.92%; A-R2 =
27.49%

16.61%
Smoked Paddlefish
Texture

7.681

-1.864

0.00001

1.846

0.002

( .01%)

(6.83%)

(44.08%)

(15.70%)

(89.15%)

8.251

-1.288

0.000004

1.777

0.002

( .01%)

(8.51%)

(66.73%)

(6.81%)

(87.16%)

R2=22.83%; A-R2 =
5.29%
Smoked Paddlefish
Odor
R2=27.38%; A-R2 =
10.88%

Table 6. Continued.
a

Perceptions of each attribute are measured on a Likert scale: 0 (extreme dislike of

attribute) to 10 (extremely like important). Below each attribute, goodness-of-fit

measures of the corresponding regression such as the R2 and Adjusted R2 are provided.
b

GreatLakes is a dummy variable which is equal to 1 if the business is located in the

Great Lakes region, and 0 if it is located in Kentucky.

c

Amount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood that each business normally purchases

and/or produces per year.

d

Wholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is a wholesaler;

otherwise it is 0.
e

WholeFish % is a continuous variable that indicates the percentage of the total annual

smoked seafood inventory that is in the form of whole-smoked fish.