|
|
|
|
Tavan’s Fish Sausage Plan |
|
|
|
Archives -
2007 Archive
|
|
Written by B. Tyril
|
|
Monday, 21 May 2007 |
Adding flavors from around the world to its growing range of gluten free fish sausages, health food manufacturer Prima Fisk is looking to gain foothold in the Nordic markets for sandwich fills.
With a production capacity of one metric ton per hour and ample access to raw materials, health food startup Prima Fisk (originally JetFood) is hoping to sign its first export contracts within the immediate future. Following a round of business presentations and promising negotiations with a major retail chain, general manager Jan E. Petersen gave an upbeat account.
“We have now tested a selection of high quality fish sausage products by first establishing our brand within the Faroese food retail market,” he said. “We have succeeded to the extent that we now have regular deliveries every week including some exports but we are in fact able to process up much more; through partnering with Tavan we have excellent access to raw materials.”
With main emphasis on product quality and the health factor, and a maximum production capacity of as much as one metric tons per hour, there is plenty of room for any increase in the throughput.
A year after Mr Petersen joined forces with Leirvík saithe and silver smelt major Tavan to establish a company specializing in silver smelt sausages, Tavan has bought out his former partner to take the majority of shares. Now, says Mr Petersen, the plan is to enter Nordic export markets by initially focusing on large retail chains and the catering market.
“A number of business representatives, from small specialty shops to large retail chains, have shown interest in our products,” Mr Petersen said. “We are now hopeful to achieve breakthrough levels in Denmark in the weeks or months ahead. And we have the capacity and the infrastructure to deliver in consistent quality and on time.”
‘World food’ element: Prima Fisk’s fish sausages come in many colors, depending on the particular spices used in each product. The idea, according to Mr Petersen, is to offer tastes and flavors from every corner of the globe.
“This is high-energy, low-fat, protein-rich gourmet food suitable for many occasions, perfect as sandwich fill, for instance. No bad additives, only gluten-free flour and spices… a very high percentage of fish. The only fat is fish oil and small amounts of vegetable oil. So it’s both tasty and nutritional and the concept has a world culture appeal as well — we offer a lot of flavors inspired from different places like Thailand, India, the Mediterranean, the US, and Mexico.”
Tavan has sixteen years of experience in fish processing, supplying silver smelt mince to overseas markets as well as to Prima Fisk. Other products exported to France, Germany and Sweden include saithe loins and roe.
“Minced silver smelt is not just an excellent species for fish sausages,” said Tavan managing director Joen Magnus Rasmussen. “It has a very good consistency, which in practice means that virtually no additives are required, making it perfect for fish quenelles, fish sausages and other products.”
With 50 employees, Tavan annually processes around 2200 metric tons of saithe and 6500 mt of silver smelt. As a pioneer and leading purchaser and processor of silver smelt in the Faroes, Tavan has served its home marked with portions of minced silver smelt since the early 1990s. While this market has remained stable over the years, exports have climbed.
The company is constantly exploring new opportunities through product and market development, Mr Rasmussen said.
“We see great potential in synergies between the saithe and silver smelt, and so we have made investments on a continuous basis to find out how to work as effectively as possibly with these species. In the beginning, we focused solely on silver smelt and therefore didn’t work year-round inasmuch as the silver smelt fishery is a seasonal fishery lasting only a few months from early to late summer. After a while we began to take in saithe and because of that, business operations expanded to the extent that we now work throughout the year.
“As to portions of saithe, we’ve had some ongoing product development, while with silver smelt, it’s slightly different, as mincing has been the only way to work it; removing the pin bone effectively is still too much of a challenge. But we believe it’s possible to develop a technology for doing removing it and that we could possess such technology within the not too distant future.”
For Tavan’s sausage making subsidiary, however, sticking with the mince is the perfect way forward.
Link to pdf presentation...
|
|
|
Archives