PRODUCT QUALITY AND ENERGY USE IN HIGH TEMPERATURE SMOKING OF FISH

A process for heating smoked fish was developed such that the lethality of the heating process is equivalent to a 12 decimal reduction of spores of Clostridium botulinum Type E. This lethality is similar to the specifications in the Food & Drug Administration smoked fish Good Manufacturing Practice regulations. The requirements for a fish smoking oven that would be necessary to carry out the process were also determined. The staged temperature process, which started at 160°F (71.1°C) dry bulb and 140°F (60°C) wet bulb, with wet and dry bulb temperatures increases of 10°F (5.6°C) in 10 min increments until the internal temperature of the fish reached 194°F (90°(Z), minimized undesirable defects in the smoked fish product when compared with other smoking (process) schedules. The energy consumption of the recirculating air oven, for the high temperature staged process (186.482 MJ) was found to be twice that for a constant temperature 71.1°C process (92.337 MJ) with most of the energy used attributed to the generation of steam used for humidification, and heat losses through the un insulated ductwork. A heat balance on an oven with steam humidification and a heating element capacity of 35.5 kW showed that only 45.5 kg of product can be processed effectively using the staged temperature process.