Earth’s oceans and seas are notable not just because they cover more than 70% of the planet’s surface but also because they are home to a vast and diverse population of animal and plant life. Whereas growing crops and raising livestock for food is a labour-intensive process that requires careful husbandry, for millennia, the sea has provided humans with a year-round supply of nutritious foods that simply require us to harvest them. As humans have proliferated, their appetite for seafood has increased, creating the need for preservation techniques to help maintain its freshness
We have come a long way since early humans used spears to catch fish. Then, most of the catch would have been consumed almost immediately, before it spoiled and became unpalatable. In time, however, those early fishermen learned that by salting or smoking their catch, it remained edible much longer and reduced the time they needed to spend fishing. Although refined, both methods are still used for seafood preservation today. Two classic examples are the Portuguese salted cod known as Bacalhau and the quintessential British breakfast dish, smoked herrings – better known as kippers, bloaters or, in Scotland, sometimes as smokies.
While individuals still fish from piers and small boats, fishing has become a major industry and is conducted far from shore by the crews of relatively compact trawlers and giant factory ships. While the trawlermen still salt their catch or immerse it in brine, factory ships often remain at sea for weeks. In order to ensure adequate preservation of their seafood cargo, their crew must resort to processing and freezing the catch whilst it is still on board, which explains why these vessels are known as factory ships.
Most of the fish that ends up on a fishmonger’s slab to be purchased by the general public will have been relatively untouched. However, most of the fish caught today is more likely to be delivered to food-processing plants. Here it may be seasoned, cooked, and packaged for consumers to reheat and enjoy or it may simply become an ingredient in some other processed food product. Whatever its fate, the raw seafood will require some form of preservation, whether its purpose is to maintain or to enhance the colour, taste, and texture of a given product or just to ensure that it is free of any potentially harmful microorganisms.
While salting and smoking are both effective methods to prevent the growth of germs, preserving the appearance, taste, and consistency of fish is a more complex process and the requirements may even differ between species. Consequently, this is a process that requires the use of more sophisticated preservatives designed for each particular task. Tequisa is an acknowledged leader in the field of seafood preservation and has developed a wide range of highly effective products in order to meet the varied needs of the world’s fish processing plants.
For example, the Tequisa range includes a product that goes by the name of TQI Melacide P/4 ST. Its purpose is to prevent the blackening effect known as melanosis which would otherwise spoil the natural appearance of crustaceans such as crab, crayfish, and prawns. TQI C2000/S, another of the company’s seafood-preservation products, is designed to remove surface bacteria from all fish species.
