| Fish Receiving |
Fish are delivered to canneries frozen, with heads, eggs and viscera already removed. Quality evaluations are performed during unloading, which include monitoring the temperature and condition of the fish and conducting sensory evaluations. Fish found unacceptable are rejected.
|
| Cold Storage |
Fish are maintained at temperatures near 0F until
needed for processing. |
| Thawing |
Thawing is conducted under controlled conditions to preserve fish quality. Additional sensory evaluations are performed at this time.
|
| Pre-cooking |
Acceptable fish are placed on racks and transferred to large ovens where they are cooked sufficiently to facilitate cleaning of the fish.
|
| Cleaning |
After pre-cooking, each fish is cleaned by hand
and inspected for quality attributes. The cleaning operation
consists of removing the tails, fins, skin, bones and
dark flesh portions. |
| Can Filling |
Cleaned salmon are fed into filling machines where prescribed amounts of fish are placed into cans. Via a separate system, empty cans are conveyed to filling machines after having been inverted and flushed with air jets and/or water sprays.
|
| Ingredient Addition |
Cans are conveyed past points where prescribed amounts of water and salt (as needed) are added.
|
| Can Sealing |
Filled cans are conveyed to sealing machines where lids are put in place and the cans hermetically sealed. Each can or lid is affixed with a permanent production code that identifies plant, product, date packed and other pertinent information. The integrity of the hermetic seal is evaluated at frequent intervals during processing to ensure product safety.
|
| Thermal Processing |
Sealed cans are retorted (cooked) under pressure utilizing process time and temperature schedules designed by processing experts to render the product commercially sterile. All aspects of thermal processing are strictly monitored and controlled.
|
| Finished Product Evaluation |
Samples of each finished production code receive
qualitative (e.g., color, odor, flavor, texture, and cleaning)
and quantitative evaluations prior o being released for
labeling. |
| Labeling & Casing |
Product lots meeting finished product evaluation criteria are delivered to labeling lines where they are labeled and cased. Cased products are appropriately marked with information necessary to facilitate product tracing.
|
| Warehousing & Shipping |
Cased products are shipped or staged in warehouses
for later shipment. |
Skinless/Boneless
Salmon Processing
