A nitrogen factor for Alaska pollack ingredient in fish products

摘要

Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma (Pallas)) has one of the largest catches on a global level (2.83 million tonnes in 2010), and is being increasingly used by European manufacturers as the raw material for fish products, replacing scarcer and more expensive white fish species. It is caught and prepared by Pacific Rim countries, especially Russia and the USA. Mince blocks are prepared from recovered flesh from the frames after filleting, and are used principally to prepare value-added coated fish products. Soluble nitrogen is lost during the preparation of these mince blocks, and their nitrogen content is lower than that of fillet blocks. Hence a nitrogen factor is very important in determining if good manufacturing practice has been used, and that the declaration of fish content in fish products is correct.