Visakhapatnam: With the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) here developing an advanced oven, to dry fish quickly, the familiar sight of thousands of fish being dried along the coast may soon become a thing of the past. The CIFT’s unique microwave vacuum oven is the first of its kind in the country that can not only dry fish quickly, but also bring out a superior quality of products.
The microwave oven dried fish would retain their colour unlike those dried in the open. This factor alone can enable higher exports of this fish, which has a good market in Japan and other countries. Fishermen can expect a better price for the product due to its high quality. “Currently, the export of dried fish is not very promising mostly because of the quality. Drying in the sun is not totally hygienic with birds and stray animals always playing a spoilsport in the whole process. This can be reversed with our technology,” the scientist in-charge of CIFT, Raghu Prakash, told this correspondent.
The marine landings at Vizag are estimated at 3.7 million tonnes of different fish annually. Dried fish accounts for about 10 per cent of this. At the national level, dried fish has a share of about 20 per cent of the total production of about 14 million tonnes. “Microwave vacuum drying is an emerging technology. It not only gives quality product but also enhances the shelf life of the fish. The fish can be dried in less than two hours. The traditional method of drying in the sun can take one or two days,” Viji P, scientist at the CIFT, who handled the project, said. The institute has developed a one-kg capacity oven at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. Tests have just been completed on the prototype with mackerel.
“Now we will try out other fish species like squid and shrimp,” Prakash said.
The institute estimated that salted dried fish from the oven can have a shelf life of six to eight months, which gives excellent scope for exports. The Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation has developed a new packaging technology called Modified Atmosphere Packaging which also enhances the shelf life of dried fish to beyond six months. It is a process involving removal of air around the fish and adding a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, before sealing the plastic pouches.
