Emerging technologies with automation

With growing labour costs in Asia, a renewed focus on reducing food waste and worldwide demand for seafood due to its high protein content, health promoting omega-3s and rich source of micronutrients, seafood processors are looking for innovative ways to internally cut costs and automation may just hold the key.

This article discusses some of the scientific research and other emerging technologies for reducing internal costs and automation in seafood processing.

Robotics is an emerging technology that is being used in a number of fields today as a technical aid or alternative to humans in selected tasks. In seafood processing, the most common application is handling boxes of uniform shape and size in environments relatively free of humidity and other elements that are detrimental for use of robots. Applica – tions such as arranging individual pieces of raw fish, fresh or frozen, on belts or into packages can be more challenging. In addition to the handling of individual pieces, the environmental conditions are frequently unsuitable for robots and special measures must be taken.

Marel has recently reported on a fully automated portioning, loading and batching concept. The concept is applicable for use with fish fillets, fish portions, fish steaks or breaded products. A pick-and-place robot gently picks up the portions and places them on the IQF freezer loading belt in a predefined pattern for optimal belt utilisation. After the IQF process, the products are batched into fixed weight packs on a Marel multi-head-weighing machine. The final control is provided by the M-Check RF8 check weigher to prevent under- and/or over – weighing. The labour-reducing concept allows for less human contact with the products, resulting in enhanced hygiene.

Marel also reported on another technology application in fish processing that includes the automation of inline flow where superchilling or contact chilling results in improved processing, higher quality, longer storage tolerance and higher product value. Marel introduced a processing line where fish fillets are run through a cooling tank followed by direct contact with a cooling surface that brings the raw material temperature below 0°C without fully freezing the material. The superchilled fillets are skinned; the tail portion is trimmed off and individually frozen. The front portion of the fillets are trimmed, portioned, graded and sorted into batches by an in-line quality control station that keeps track of individual performance on the flow line and reports back to the operators.

Another emerging technology that has taken a giant leap is the development of state-ofthe- art X-ray inspection systems and automatic inspection of fillets for bones and foreign objects. The technology and integrated system is used to control cutting and bone removal with higher yield than previously attainable.

Trio Food Processing Machinery AS in collaboration with SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and SINTEF ICT in Norway have developed a system that allows pin bones to be removed from fish fillets while still being in prerigour condition. This system opens a new market for the salmon industry since the shelf life of fresh salmon products are prolonged for several days compared to the traditional method of pin-bone removal where fillets are allow to ‘mature’ for four to six days in order to pull out the pin bones without damaging the flesh or the bones broken. The patented process involves four steps: 1) machine visioning to identify the position of the fillets on the conveyor belt and capture an image of the fillet surface to estimate the pin bones position; 2) adjustment of the fillets on the conveyor belt from the vision system to the PLC; 3) cutting the connective tissue connecting the pin bones to the muscle; and 4) removing pin bones by puling to keep the fillet as one part using the Trio FPM-FTC pine bone remover.

The use of computer vision technology for quality control in fish processing is also coming to the forefront. A computer vision method was reported by SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and SINTEF ICT for automated blood inspection of fish body cavities after gutting and washing. Using linear discriminate analysis, classification accuracy was over 90 per cent as evaluated with the leave-one-out method. Nofima in Norway have reported on an imaging spectroscopy technique originally developed for nematode detection for use in detecting blood and melanin spots in salted and smoked salmon fillets. The online measurement technique was successful for the detection of melanin infested fillets but its application for detection of bloodspots requires use of higher wavelengths due to pigment interference from astaxanthin in salmon fillets. The imaging spectroscopy solution must be paired with a sorting system if producers are to automate the process for salted and smoked salmon of high quality products without these defects.

Citing rising food prices as their biggest challenge along with complying with govern – ment regulations and sourcing or availability of products, seafood processors in the United States are looking to Marel for a computer software program, Innova that monitors production in real time and provides seafood processors with an IT solution when it comes to optimising profits and overall production performance. Innova covers the complete value chain in the production cycle, from reception of supplies to product dispatch, providing all key performance indicators (KPIs) for each stage and traceability from door to door.

The primary driver of IT technology is traceability which is at the forefront of food safety and sustainability. The Innova software closely monitors and controls yields, throughput and efficiency, giveaway and loss of sales, quality, stock levels and movements, traceability and profitability. The Innova system is based on a modular design that provides maximum flexibility, from small operations to plant-wide systems. The Innova software can trace product directly back to its source, implementing the system places your company in a position to act quickly and minimise potential recalls should any safety issue occur.

Other equipment suppliers such as Gregor Jonsson, a manufacturer of shrimp-peeling equipment in Illinois, USA have experienced increased demand for their products in Asia and south and central China due to the increased labour costs that have traditional been low in these countries.

Other innovative technologies that have emerged recently are directed at improving food yields from fish. This involves innovative use for parts of the fish that would not typically be considered ‘prime’ cuts. The industry has successfully introduced such products in the past such as fishcakes that were developed as a means to utilise mince from off cuts and trimmings. For example, Earl P. McFee was Research and Quality Control Director of Gorton’s Corporation in the 1950s when the breaded fish industry was in its infancy. McFee was credited with the standardisation of the frozen fish block, development in tempering, slicing and thawing of fish blocks and the creation of the McDonald’s Corporation breaded fish portion.

Today, new technologies are leading innovation for the recovery of fish proteins by pH shifting and precipitation techniques. Re-introducing of fish muscle protein back into prime cuts of fish is done through adaptation of automated injection technology. The patented process has been commercialised and a number of major fish companies are utilising the technology to internally cut costs and reduce food waste. The technology development is the result of advancing over 20 years of research culminating in several patents authored by Dr. Herbert Hultin, the original founder of MPF, and his colleagues.

MPF’s science and engineering team is now led by Tyre C. Lanier and Hordur G. Kristinsson who continue to push the boundaries of our knowledge outward and expand uses of this technology. The team of scientists and engineers has worked in a wide range of processing environments on four continents with many different fish and land animal species. With each implementation, production techniques are improved and simplified, and fit to specific industry’s needs.

More recently, a patented process was developed in 2012 by Shure Foods LLC to supply gelated crabmeat using binders to cold set raw crab muscle in various product forms. Coupling this emerging technology with automated recovery of raw crabmeat and forming the gelated crabmeat with binders will allow processors to reduce internal costs and develop new markets that previously did not exist for reformed crab products. This technology development is being evaluated in our own laboratories at North Carolina State University with commercialisation in the not so distant future.

In summary, recent trends in seafood processing appear to be reducing costs through adoption of new technologies with automation where appropriate. With growing labour costs in Asia, a renewed focus on reducing food waste and worldwide demand for seafood due to its high protein content, health promoting omega- 3s and rich source of micronutrients, seafood processors are looking for innovative ways to internally cut costs.

Biography

David Green is Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University where he has directed the NCSU Seafood Processing Laboratory since 1986. Green served as founding director for the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology and is co-editor-inchief, Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology™ published by Taylor & Francis LLC.