1 in 3 wild fish are discarded before ever reaching a plate. This invention tackles the waste.
By Emma Bryce, Anthropocene, July 1, 2022
Researchers have invented a method that can strip and use the entire carcass of a herring, turning everything from its head to its tail into food that’s suitable for human consumption, instead of just the prized filet alone.
Their innovation could help tackle enormous quantities of fish waste along the supply chain, and simultaneously reduce pressure on severely overfished wild stocks at sea.
The new sorting method makes it possible to extract and separate an additional five parts of the fish just as carefully as the filet: the head, belly flap, backbone, tailfins, and internal organs. The trial technology, developed by researchers from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has already been successfully tested at a fish processing plant in the country, which is now making new food products for human consumption from these leftover parts, including fish mince for burgers, made from the backbone and head.