PROCESSING SMOKED FRESHWATER FISH PRODUCTS ANDMARKET DEVELOPMENT OF VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS INTHE GREAT LAKES AND NORTHEASTERN REGIONSOF 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 CaporelliKentucky Dept. of AgricultureAquaculture Coordinator and Marketing Specialist502-564-4983angela.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 AgricultureSteven 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 water-phase 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 In-Kind Match Total Equipment and Travel $15,850$22,500 Total Supplies$10,760$2,250 Labor Total Personnel$26,000$38,080 KSU overhead 25%$ 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 whole-smoked 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 Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Type of business Wholesaler6 28Retailer7 1623Restaurant5 16Number of employees 25 or less11 182926-50 employees2 0251-100 employees2 02101 or more1 01Types of customersa Wholesalers3.13% 4.17%3.69%Retailers22.13% 2.22%11.59%Restaurants/food service 11.25% 11.11%11.18%Consumers63.19% 82.50%73.49%aExpressed 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 Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Smoked salmon67.08% 75.63%71.96%Smoked trout6.83% 8.75%7.93%Smoked tuna0.50% 3.13%2.00%Smoked shellfish2.17% 0.00%0.93%Other smoked seafooda10.00% 12.50%11.43%aOther 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 Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Whole smoked fish15.17% 12.81%13.82%Smoked fillets67.33% 81.56%75.46%Smoked fish steaks6.42% 0.00%2.75%Other product forma11.08% 5.63%7.96%aOther 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 supplierGreat Lakes Businesses Kentucky Businesses Aggregate Individual fish smoking businesses 39.50% 0.00%16.93%Importers6.67% 0.00%2.86%Brokers0.00% 4.06%2.32%Wholesalers52.58% 89.69%73.79%Othersa1.25% 6.25%4.11%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 variablesRegressors InterceptGreatLakesbAmountcWholesalerdWholeFish%eProduct Pricea R2=66.36%; A-R2 = 57.91% 9.099( .01%)-2.584(0.03%)-0.00003(34.98%)0.432 (63.79%) 0.003(80.85%)Product Packaging R2=65.61%; A-R2 = 57.01% 9.685( .01%)-3.724( .01%)-0.00004(35.60%)1.942 (7.80%) -0.012(33.31%)Smoked Marine Fish R2=61.28%; A-R2 = 51.60% 8.864( .01%)-5.676( .01%)-0.00006(38.34%)0.429 (80.55%) -0.021(30.15%)Smoked Bony Fish R2=34.87%; A-R2 = 18.59% 5.206( .01%)-2.147(13.84%)-0.00003(69.70%)-0.367 (86.11%) 0.067(1.23%)Smoked Boneless Fish R2=33.62%; A-R2 = 17.03% 9.722( .01%)-2.174(5.31%)-0.00008(20.34%)0.585 (71.40%) -0.017(35.83%)Smoked Wild-Caught Fish R2=76.97%; A-R2 = 71.21% 9.600( .01%)-3.524( .01%)-0.00009(0.60%)0.462 (54.59%) -0.002(88.06%)Smoked Farmed Fish R2=50.99%; A-R2 = 38.74% 7.997( .01%)-4.253(0.08%)0.00005(37.42%)-3.142 (6.46%) -0.009(60.63%)Product Country of Origin R2=56.92%; A-R2 = 46.15% 9.422( .01%)-2.695(0.62%)-0.00002(63.72%)2.100 (12.52%) -0.047(0.54%) Table 5.Continued. aEach 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. bGreatLakes 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. cAmount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood that each business normally purchases and/or produces per year. dWholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is a wholesaler; otherwise it is 0. eWholeFish % 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 variablesRegressors InterceptGreatLakes AmountWholesalerWholeFish%Smoked Catfish Appearancea R2=21.00%; A-R2 = 3.00% 6.428( .01%)0.329(78.00%)-0.00004(3.34%)0.547 (71.00%) 0.009(64.30%)Smoked Catfish Texture R2=30.31%; A-R2 = 15.08% 6.853( .01%)-0.351(71.00%)-0.00004(0.80%)1.385 (25.90%) 0.009(59.50%)Smoked Catfish Taste R2=36.00%; A-R2 = 21.45% 7.802( .01%)-1.072(25.40%)-0.00004(0.80%)1.339 (27.00%) 0.006(73.30%)Smoked Catfish Odor R2=40.92%; A-R2 = 27.49% 8.248( .01%)-1.423(14.97%)-0.00004(0.50%)2.087 (10.51%) -0.009(60.82%)Smoked HSB Odor R2=32.05%; A-R2 = 8.522( .01%)-1.301(8.18%)-0.00002(10.30%)1.350 (15.84%) -0.013(31.52%)16.61% Smoked Paddlefish Texture R2=22.83%; A-R2 = 5.29% 7.681( .01%)-1.864(6.83%)0.00001(44.08%)1.846 (15.70%) 0.002(89.15%)Smoked Paddlefish Odor R2=27.38%; A-R2 = 10.88% 8.251( .01%)-1.288(8.51%)0.000004(66.73%)1.777 (6.81%) 0.002(87.16%) Table 6.Continued. aPerceptions 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. bGreatLakes 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. cAmount refers to the pounds of smoked seafood that each business normally purchases and/or produces per year. dWholesaler is a dummy variable that is equal to 1 if a business is a wholesaler; otherwise it is 0. eWholeFish % is a continuous variable that indicates the percentage of the total annual smoked seafood inventory that is in the form of whole-smoked fish.