The following is a general description for the production of SPC and Alaska salmon oil on the processing barge Alaskan Venturer (A/V).  We have included a copy of our Process Flow Chart which shows the main processing steps outlined below, for your convenience.

Specific information on temperatures, time, enzyme specificity, enzyme addition rates, acid quality, and strength are not presented here as they are proprietary and are therefore held in strict confidence.

Raw Material Receiving

Fresh salmon by-products come from wild Alaska salmon which are harvested in well managed commercial fisheries in Alaska.  The Alaska salmon fishery produces foods intended for human consumption.  The salmon are handled in accordance with all State and Federal food safety/sanitary standards and food laws. From the time they are harvested until they are processed in the production plants, the salmon are held on ice in accordance with food safety regulations.  As the by-products are generated on the processing line, they are conveyed immaiately into the raw amterial feed tank on the A/V for the procution of oil and hydrolysate.  Sanitary food-grade pumps are used to convery the by-products from the salmon plant to the A/V which means that the by-products enter our oil and hydrolysate prodcution process as a food grade material fit and intended for human consumption.  

Our raw material feed tank can hold up to 300 tons of fresh by-products, enough for one day of production.   

Grinding/Heating

Fresh salmon by-products are fed from the raw material storage tanks into food grinders via stainless steel augurs.  A control room  operator regulates the speed of the augurs using a modern, state-of-the-art Process Logic Control system (PLC).  The PLC is an integrated computerized control system which is housed in a control room located above the feed augurs and the grinders. The line operator uses a convex mirror to monitor the amount of material feeding the grinder at any given time and to control the plant speed.

The salmon by-products are ground into a slurry which is pumped immdiately through a bank of scraped-surface, indirect steam, food-grade, stainless steel heat exchangers called contherms. Using contherms, the temperature of the ground slurry can qucikly be raised without direct-steam injection.  This eliminates the possible contamination of the slurry with boil chemicals which must be used to treat water going into steam generators.  

The amount of heat applied is just enought to free oil in the slurry and the free the bone from muscle protein. Special attention is given to not overheat the slurry.  This helps to protect the oil as well as the protein from exposure to high heat. Low temperature processing is a key for the production of nutritious proteins as well as cold-pressed integral oils.

Bone separation

A stainless steel de-boner mechanically separates bone and other other hard material from the soft tissues in the ground fish slurry.  The de-boned slurry is then pumped via stainless sanitary piping into a decanter.  

Oil removal

A horizontal centrifuge, called a decanter, separates the solid and liquid phases in the ground fish slurry.  The liquid phase is then pumped into a high-speed centrifuge and the oil is separated from the liquid.  A natural antioxidant is added to the oil as it is being collected in sterile bulk shipping containers.  The liquid phase from the centrifuge is returned to the solid phase at the decanter and the dilute protein slurry moves into the digest step of the process.

Enzymatic Digestion

The heated, de-boned, and de-oiled slurry is pumped from the decanter into one of eight large stainless steel digest tanks where natural enzymes are added to the ground slurry. The slurry is agitated vigorously for several hours, after which, the slurry becomes a thin soup-like product.

Evaporation

Once digestion is complete, the dilute, 78% moisture, fish hydrolysate is pumped through a “two effect” vacuum evaporator where approximately 75% of the moisture is removed.  The resulting product is a concentrated fish hydrolysate with 28% to 32% high quality protein.  Some of the distilled water generated from the evaporated fish digest is used for cleaning and processing purposes. The rest is discharged.

Stabilization and Storage

The concentrated salmon protein is cooled qucikly using plate heat exchangers.  Once cooled, it is pumped into a high speed mixer and acid is dosed into the concentrate until it reaches a pH of <4.0.  The growth of spoliage bacteria or other deleaterious microorganisms is inhibited below pH 4.2 .  With this lower pH, we  stabilize the product for long term storage at room temperatures for 2 years or more so we can store the finished concentrate in specially coated and sterilized tanks belwo the deck line on the A/V.  The SPC is therefore transported with the barge to Seattle after the production season.  The inventory is held on board until it is shipped to market from Seattle.

Shipping

SPC can  be economically shipped in bulk using highway or rail tankers.  For export sales, SPC can be shipped in 40 foot containers but must be packed in a bin or bladder.  Smaller packing containers such as 1,500 liter  re-usable totes called Goodpacks, 1,000 liter SpaceKraft bins, 1,000 liter IBC poly-cubes, and by 55-gallon drums may be used for shipping but add to the final cost of the SPC.  

The concentrate requires no special handling or environmental controls during shipping.