Tímarit Verkfræðingafélags Íslands - 01.12.1967, Side 289

TlMARIT VPI 1967
287
ment of Agrieulture at an International Exhibi-
tion in 1876. In spite of the fact that they had
been kept for one year in imsealed jars, the
biscuits were found to be in perfect condition.
So we note that producing concentrated protein
from fish is not a new endeavor. It has only
been in the last 25 years, however, (and thanks
in great part to the untiring efforts of a few
private individuals and af such organizations as
UNICEF and FAO of the United Nations) that
any extensive endeavor have been made in this
direction. And it is only in the last several years
that the potential of FPC, as a superier quality
protein supplement, received its full recognition
and intense world-wide interest.
Development of a Prototype Processing Method
As we have seen, the idea to produce a fish
protein concentrate as an inexpensive protein
food supplement is by no means new, and in the
course of the last 20 years, private, industrial,
government, and international organizations have
worked assiduously to develop modern, effective
and satisfactory methods of production.
Much valuable information has thus been deve-
loped but could not be translated into action
programs for a number of reasons: technical
failures delayed practical development on some
occasions; at other times the protein concentrate
proved to be unstable or unacceptable to the
ethnic groups for which it had been intended.
Sizable markets that might stimulate industrial
action were not anticipated.
One of the most important tasks to be achie-
ved, however, was the requirement of the U. S.
Food and Drug Administration. This agency not
only requested proof that fish protein concen-
trate made from whole fish was, in fact, safe,
nutritious, and wholesome, but also that FPC
would likely not be objectionable to the average
U. S. consumer. Until approval was obtained from
the Food and Drug Administration to use whole
fish, no fish protein concentrate produced from
this raw material could officially be sent over-
seas, also no foreign manufacturers would em-
bark upon fish protein concentrate production for
fear of criticism that a food not good enough
for the Americans could be deemed suitable for
the starving natives of developing nations.
When, in 1961, the fish protein concentrate
program was initiated in the Bureau of Com-
mercial Fisheries, it had 2 major goals: (1) to
obtain Food and Drug Administration approval
for a fish protein concentrate produced from
whole fish, and (2) to study existing and possi-
bly develop new fish protein concentrate produc-
tion methods that would lead to the manufacture
of a stable, inexpensive, wholesome and highly
nutritious product to be used as a food supple-
ment.
Now that the Food and Drug Administration
approval has been obtained, it may be of interest
to review the guidelines that led the Bureau to
select a particular raw material and a certain
type of process, to examine the properties of a
product so manufactured, and to look at some of
the tests to which the finished product had to
be subjected to demonstrate its properties.
Choice of Raw Material
It appeared evident from the start of the pro-
gram that, to ensure the greatest degree of succ-
ess in this venture, every possible precaution
should be taken to begin with as simple a process
as possible, utilizing as uniform a raw material
as could be obtained. It was, furthermore, realized
that the characteristics of the 25 thousand or
so different species of fish, known to exist in
the oceans, varied very significantly. In view of
these considerations, it was decided that, to
guarantee a source of raw material of reason-
ably constant composition, one farily well defined
class or group of fishes should initially be consid-
ered, preferably one that could be caught in
homogenous schools and that was known to be
safe for human consumption. It is for these
pragmatic reasons that the hake and hake-like
fishes were chosen as the raw material to be
used for the FPC process and that the use of
mixed bags of fish was rejected at this stage.
Selection of Process
As we have mentioned before, the principal
goals of the FPC program were: (a) to seek
Food and Drug Administration approval for a
product, FPC, made by a selected method, utiliz-
ing whole fish as the raw material, and (b) to
select, for the purpose set out under (a) above,
the simplest and most effective processing met-
hod for the preparation of a concentrated and
stable food protein supplement.
1. Basic requirements for the preservation fish.
— It has become almost intuitivly true to say
that the keeping qualities of foods in general, and
of fish in particular, are closely related to the
food’s water content. Over the centuries, various
dehydration methods such as sun-drying and salt-
ing, have been successfully used for the preserva-
tion of fish, although these procedures are neither