Milkfish Production and Processing ... - WorldFish Center

of 00 grams is often done to thin the stock and
to realize a cash inflow midway. Total production
and income is higher when deliberate overstocking
and partial harvesting is practiced.
MILKFISH PROCESSING
Preservation by Curing. Drying, smoking and
fermentation (“buro”) are the traditional way of
preserving milkfish. Drying involves splitting the
fish into butterfly cut and brining before being laid
under the sun. Drying time ranges from 10 hours
up to hours under the sun depending on fish
size to achieve 0% moisture content. Smoking
involves only gutting and brining without splitting.
The drum-type smoker is the most affordable
smoking chamber. Fermentation involves filleting
the fish and the use of cooked rice and “angkak”
(a type of fungus). Improvements in these traditional
processes are needed to improve product quality
and wholesomeness.
Freezing and Canning. The introduction of freezers
and pressure cookers has given rise to new
way of preserving fish through freezing and canning
Milkfish Production and Processing Technologies in the Philippines
(or bottling). Freezing of whole fish is not widely
practiced due to poor local market acceptability
for frozen whole milkfish. Canned milkfish enjoys a
good market because of its convenience but is done
only by large canneries as an additional product
line. For cottage industry level operation, bottling
in glass jars is more popular because it does not
require expensive machineries and glass bottles are
cheaper than tin cans.
Deboning and other Value Adding Processes.
Deboned milkfish or “boneless bangus” is undoubtedly
the most popular value-added milkfish product.
These are sold fresh-chilled, smoked, marinated and
chilled, or individually packed and frozen. These enjoy
good market both in the Philippines and abroad.
It is a tedious process involving the removal by
hand of more than 170 inter-muscular bones. The
production of “boneless bangus” has also given rise
to many other value-added products as processors
find ways to use the trimmings and bits of flesh that
are invariably removed with the bones. These new
milkfish products include fishballs, milkfish lumpia,
quekiam, embutido, and chicharon from the skins.
7