Fish 4 Quality - our Canned Fish Range
You'd be right to wince a little if you knew how most fish is canned. But we're not here to tell you the horrors that other people get up to, we're here to tell you how great our product is….
So first we pack and process our fish whole, often that means literally fresh from the catch but as the catch can be seasonal, in the case of sardines for example, or caught out in the middle of the ocean, as in the case of tuna, it sometimes means that the fish has been frozen either at sea or immediately at landing.
It is important though, before processing, that the fish is well kept - you need to keep the fish clean, unmarked, i.e. with no surface damage, wounds, etc and ensure that it does not get crushed. It needs to be kept chilled on board if it is landed fresh and frozen in a correct manner to a defined quality standard if it is frozen at sea.
Processing from a whole fish is a crucial point to maintain the taste and texture of the fish. In all cases the fish is gutted, cleaned and then processed. If you do this in separate stages, there is too much thermal shock with freezing and de-frosting the fish twice and then an overlong sterilisation process because of the increased risk of having a health problem - which means the fish tastes less good and loses more nutritional quality.
Next you need to think of what's in the pack - with Fish4Ever we really just pack the fillet of the fish. Open any tin of Fish4Ever and you will notice that the flesh is firm and solid, the fillet kept in one piece. Our difference in quality is visible to the eye and the difference in taste is also immediately apparent. In fact a tin of Fish4Ever is a good substitute to fresh fish or meat in a meal and can be served with 2 veg and potatoes, in deliciously fresh crispy salads and great pasta sauces - see our Fish4You section for a little inspiration.
Finally we think there's a big quality argument from the fact that we use organic ingredients because organic regulations ban many artificial additives, flavours and processing aids that can be used in ordinary food manufacturing and these are often used to bulk out a product or mask a lower quality. With an organic product there are less options to cheat and so the quality of the raw ingredients is more important and the processes used are as natural as possible. In the case of organic oils specifically, conventionally processed oils have quite an aggressive extraction method with a lot of heating and attempts to get the most out of a seed or fruit, with the use of solvents produces a product that is not of good taste quality.