Succesfull meat separator test paves the way for round goby as a promising food option

Figure 1. Fish prepared for the meat separator machine

Until now, round goby has been largely excluded from commercial use due to its small size, bony structure, and the cost of manual processing. Manual filleting is labour-intensive and inefficient, and traditional separator machines have not been used with round goby before. According to a project report on market opportunities for round goby (D1.2), these processing challenges could make the fish less profitable compared to other larger fish.

To overcome these challenges, Sofia von Scheele at Skillinge Fisk’s processing facility, together with Hannes Hall from Marine Centre Simrishamn, tested a new type of processing machine to create mince from round goby fish. The fish, which came out of a freezer, had to be larger than 12 cm and was thawed, gutted and headed before performing the tests.

In total, two tests were performed. The first involved a small number of fish; the yield was rather small, 0,86 kg of mince from 1,5 kg of fish. After some troubleshooting, it was discovered that the machine’s tension roller had not been tightened properly. A second test was significantly more successful, 3,94 kilograms of cleaned fish produced 3,26 kilograms of mince, a yield of 83 percent.

Figure 2. Minced meat coming out of the Modified Atmosphere Packaging machine

Even though the second yield might have contained mince from the first test, it still shows that round goby can be mechanically separated in seconds, offering a cost-efficient and time-saving method to produce mince suitable for a variety of products. The mince was packed in Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) and stored in the refrigerator for further shelf-life evaluation.

This development opens new possibilities not only for human food products like fish balls, patties and spreads, but also for pet food and other value-added formats. With processing barriers lowered, the round goby could finally find its place in the commercial seafood sector.

These tests are only the beginning. Skillinge Fisk is also looking into freezing and thawing the mince to study how quality holds up during storage and reheating. In October, Skillinge Fisk will mince 20kg of round goby for a tasting event in a local school in Kalmar.

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