As people nowadays demand for “fast” food due to busy life, the Fisheries Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture, the Executive Yuan has developed a series of fish ready meals with adequate nutrition. It requires simple process and short time, but retains the original characteristics and flavor of the fish, which also tastes better than those available in the market. The cooking procedure just requires short-time heating before you enjoy the delicious food. In the future, various ready meals could be customized upon demands. Through different processes and machining techniques, the fishery products realize innovation and value added. It facilitates regulating the market supply and demand and brings higher value for catches, so as to increase income for fishermen.
With the lifestyle change and economic development, it influences the daily routine and diet preference of people. In the past, we prepared food through complicated cooking procedure, while we now prefer convenient and simple fast ready meals that can be served instantly. Currently there are a variety of ready meals in the chain stores and supermarkets, which are mostly livestock products, but rarely fishery products.
Fish can provide various amino acids needed by human body, in which the muscle fiber is short and can be congested and absorbed easily. With fat content of 1~4%, fish contains nearly 80% of unsaturated fatty acid that can lower the probability of getting cardiovascular diseases. It provides good animal protein that is good for human body. The Fisheries Research Institute has developed a series of fish ready meals since 2017, such as Drunk Coryphaena Hippurus, Steamed Grouper and Cooked Chanos Chanos. These ready meals just take one hour to achieve the quality in conformation to the Sanitation Standards for Canned Foods. During the incubation test (37℃, 10 days), no defect such as bag expansion or damage is found, and no clostridium botulinum is detected. The ready meals can be stored for one year under ambient temperature. After being simply heated and served on the table, the fish still retains the original flavor and tastes very good. With the convenient, delicious and nutritious advantages, it can meet the “fast, simple and convenient” demands of people.
The processing technique for fish ready meals developed by the Fisheries Research Institute can’t only help regulate the supply and demand in the market, but also can bring higher value for the catches. In the future, various ready meals may be customized upon demands of different consumer groups. By providing a great variety of fish ready meals, it increases the fish consumed by citizens, making everyone enjoy the delicious and nutritious aquatic products easily.