© Hailia
As part of a new cooperation, Finnish food technology company Hailia will start manufacturing food products from salmon sidestreams provided by fish processing company Hätälä. Hailia’s technology turns the parts of the fish left on the filleting table, such as fins, heads, and frames, into a tasty and easy-to-use raw material for the food industry.
A new way of utilising sidestreams, the partnership aims to improve sustainability in the fish processing industry whilst also responding to a growing global demand for seafood products.
If successful, this collaboration could result in significant changes to the way we consume seafood, with the process resulting in over 90 percent of a harvested salmon being used for human consumption. In addition to improving sustainability, this could be a significant boost to the profitability of the seafood industry, which is currently struggling with declining fish populations and increasing environmental impacts.
“With Hailia’s innovative technology, a bigger part of the fish can be used to create nutritious, high-quality seafood. Sustainability guides all our operations at Hätälä, and we want to promote sustainable development in the entire aquaculture industry. As a fourth generation family-owned company, we cherish our traditions, but at the same time we welcome new circular solutions and resource-wise processes,” said Veikko Leinonen, chief executive of Hätälä, in a press release.
Claiming the novel product to have a structure and feel similar to cooked fish fillet, Hätälä aims to target an array of markets.
“Versatile, high-quality, and affordable seafood is interesting to consumers as well as the restaurant and food service industry. Due to their structure, the salmon products made from sidestreams are suitable for many different kinds of foods. They are also ready to use, which makes them attractive to constantly busy restaurant kitchens. I believe that the products will be successful in multiple markets,” says Petri Tiikkala, sales manager at Hätälä.
Prior to this collaboration, Hailia’s focus was centred on the production of manufactured food from small pelagic fish sidestreams, however a change in strategy has led the company to move its focus towards the salmon industry.
“We are very proud to have Hätälä, one of the market leaders in Finland and an internationally known company, trust our concept and be the first company to offer its customers a raw material made from the sidestreams from Norwegian salmon. Sustainability has become more and more important in the industry, and we are actively negotiating with foreign fish processing companies about the licensing of our technology. We have had a very busy year, and it has proved that our new strategy was the right choice,” explained Michaela Lindström, chief executive of Hailia.
