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Vestsalmon’s Recipe of Success |
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Written by B. Tyril
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Friday, 11 April 2008 |
With effective temperature control as one of the key elements in the company’s acclaimed quality management, Vestsalmon increases production to help secure larger deliveries of top-of-the-line salmon and trout for its clients.
Faroese aquaculture major Vestsalmon is expanding its business activities and enhancing its production capacity after a period of focus on salmon and trout processing for client fish farmers. Following the company’s 2007 release of 2.4 million smolt into its sea cages, new equipment for processing and harvesting is expected to be purchased and installed this year, according to head of sales Bogi Johannesen.
“We’ll invest approximately 30 million [4m eur] to boost productivity,” Mr Johannesen said. “This will generally make it easier for us to plan ahead with regard to logistics and it will help some of our clients procure more effectively.”
With an advanced processing facility for Atlantic salmon and salmon trout, Vestsalmon has developed a longstanding reputation in the marketplace for product quality and reliability. A combination of sales proficiency and expertise in handling farmed fish — from smolt to adult to harvesting, processing and shipment — has earned the company an enviable position in key markets in Japan, Russia and the UK.
Last year Vestsalmon exported some 8,000 tonnes of fresh and frozen salmon and trout.
What partly formed the basis of the business from the beginning in 1986 was its own fish farming operations. Over the years however, processing fish raised in cages run by other aquaculture companies has grown to become a familiar part of everyday life at Vestsalmon, alongside the company’s own produce.
As to this year’s planned investments, among the items is lengthening the well boat Vesthav by 12 meters and providing it with an additional 50 percent of refrigerated seawater capacity. Currently, the vessel’s RSW tanks can hold 425 cubic meters, but 650 m3 would be more in line with today’s demand.
“Last year we released 1.1 million salmon smolt and 1.4 million trout smolt and these will all soon be ready to be harvested. With the amount of processing this will involve, our capacity will have to be increased. So we will invest in refitting the well boat and in revamping the processing facility to expand our capability to produce fresh salmon and trout.”
Over the past two decades, Vestsalmon has placed great emphasis on meeting the requirements of some of the world’s most demanding clients, notably the Japanese.
“Becoming a trusted supplier of superior-quality products takes time and effort,” Mr Johannesen noted. “Our position has been built in close cooperation with our clients. For instance, the Japanese we’ve worked with all these years are counted among the most discerning seafood purchasers in the world. Whereas they buy vaccinated salmon and trout from other countries, the trout they get from our cages is not vaccinated.”
“This kind of working relationship is only possibly with integrity,” he added, “and that in turn requires best practices throughout the process whether you’re dealing with feeding, fish welfare, processing hygiene, or reliability in grading. As far as concerns product quality… when it comes to becoming credible in the eyes of such clients, what counts is your track record.”
Cage density levels are invariably kept well below the UK ‘ecological’ standard, which is maximum 25 kg of fish per m3 of water. A veterinary surgeons group measured a density ranging from 11 to below 13.7 kg/m3 in Vestsalmon’s on-growing cages.
As for harvesting and processing, temperature control is essential for maintaining the highest quality, Mr Johannesen said.
“Well, we use this RSW system for a very specific reason—keeping the temperature under control. So we transfer the fish from the cages to the RSW tanks on the well boat before we take them to the processing line. We make sure the chilling happens gradually and the fish are kept alive and well at below 3 degrees Centigrade. This way the fish are chilled without being stressed; it happens naturally. And it’s very thorough — the chilling is not only on the body surface but goes all the way through as the fish will be breathing air from the chilled water for a period of time while the temperature equalizes. Then the fish are introduced live into the processing line and quickly stunned, bled and gutted and, depending on the order, immediately either iced and readied for shipment or taken to the freezer tunnel.”
With the clean ocean and strong currents around the Faroe Islands taken into account, there is but one more crucial ingredient to add: top quality feed, which for Vestsalmon means marine proteins and oils with no genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
“In this environment, you’ll be sure to get an unbeatable product, if the time-tested business practices are all in place; and that of course includes feeding the fish with the best feed. The feed we use consists of 70-plus percent marine proteins og 100-percent marine oils. And it’s GMO free.”
Link to pdf presentation...
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Fisheries, Seafood