Tímarit Verkfræðingafélags Íslands - 01.12.1967, Page 293

TlMARIT VPl 1967
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since that time, this project has come a long
way. Nevertheless, I can hear from Dr. Pariser’s
talk that the people working on FPC are still
faced with some of the same questions that
we were bothering our little heads about back
in 1958-1960, that is to say solvent recovery
and recovery of the lipids. Now, previously I had
made a list of a few technical and possibly chemi-
cal questions, which I had liked to direct to Dr.
Pariser. I think is it rather superfluous for me
at this time to ask these questions, since most
of these questions have been dealt with in his
excellent talk. The ones that remain to be
answered, I think we can settle — or I can find
out from Dr. Pariser, personally. Nevertheless,
I would like to ask you a few questions, just for
the benefit of the participants of this conference,
many of whom, I am sure, would be interested
to hear your short comments on, because they
may influence their stand on FPC here in Ice-
land. These questions or these comments are as
follows: Are there any companies, commercial
companies, or government agencies in any part
of the world, producing FPC at the moment,
solely for human consumption? And if so — at
what prices is the product selling? Secondly:
With the terrifie need for protein in the world,
now and in the future, there is no doubt about
the potential markets for FPC — but do you
know of any available market now, open market
now, that will, or is willing to accept and pay
for FPC? And then finally, what possibilities do
you think that high grade non-extracted lean
fishmeal has for human consumption in
competition or alongside FPC ? There is just
one more item I like to mention, which has
to do with the Food and Drug Administration’s
stand on, or specifications on species of fish for
PFC. So far they have approved one species of
fish only, that is hake. Don’t you think that
we can foresee in the future that the Food-
and Drug people will approve other species of
fish, and in this relation I am particularily
interested, of course, in herring and maybe
capelin and for your benefit menhaden. Then
again, may I thank you very much, Dr. Pariser,
for your very informative and comprehensive
talk, which I am sure we have all enjoyed very
much — Thank you.
Dr. Pariser:
Let me answer the last question first. The
United States Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) will hopefully approve other species of
fish for use in the manufacture of F.P.C. The
laboratory in College Park, Maryland, is work-
ing, at the moment, with menhaden, sardines
and other members of the herring family. We
have hopes that within a relatively short time,
perhaps within half a year or so, some of these
species will be approved. The reason why a single
species of fish was initially selected for approval
can be explained in the need that was felt by
many to prevent unscrupulous manufacturers
from using fish of any kind and any quality.
This would make quality control of the process
and product very difficult.
The first question that was addressed to me
relating to the existence of agencies or govern-
ments responsible for producing F.P.C., or
known to have plans to produce F.P.C. for
human consumption can, on the whole, only be
answered in the negative. There is one possible
exception and that is Morocco, where the govern-
ment is actually constructing a plant for the
manufacture of F.P.C. This plant is, as far as I
know at the moment, unfortunately not
operating. It was built to utilize a mixture of
solvents and was conceived exclusively for the
manufacture of F.P.C. for human consumption.
You have asked about the existence of
markets. I have been told, and I belive that if
you contact our State Department or AID they
will tell you the same, that if you can show
that you have a product that meets present
F.D.A. specifications in all respects, i.e., that it
is made from edible grade hake, contains no
more than the maximum amount of solvent
residue or fluoride, etc., these government
agencies will be most interested, and may well
wish to buy substantial quantities of production.
No fixed price has, I believe, been determined
as yet and it may indeed be that an arrange-
ment on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis could be
made. Firms like General Foods in the United
States and Incap in Guatemala may be interested
in purchasing F.P.C.; but this is as far as I
would like to go at this moment. The Avisory
Committee of the National Academy of Sciences,
that has been assisting us greatly in the conduct
of our research, has recommended strongly that
for purposes of study and evaluation, 3,000 tons
of F.P.C. should be made available as quickly
as ever possible.
You have also asked me to comment on the
possible usefulness of a high-quality fishmeal for
use as an inexpensive F.P.C. I have seen myself
some fishmeal in Norway which had been