LATVIA
SIA Baltijas zivis – 97 uses imported and local raw materials
A vast range of fish products for the local market The Latvian seafood processing sector produces a wide variety of products based on locally sourced as well as imported raw materials. Consumption of fish and seafood at 27,5 kg per capita is above the EU average (24,9 kg/capita) and local supermarkets offer an impressive range of products – canned, smoked, salted, marinated, and fresh using many different species.
Baltijas Zivis 97 plans to expand the processing facility and to renovate the interior to increase production.
Baltijas zivis - 97 was founded (in 1997) by Antonina Moisejenko, a fish technologist with many years of experience gained from working in a big fish processing factory. Originally the company manufactured five products that were exported to Russia, but then decided to develop the market in Latvia as a backup. Today the company produces over 150 products that are sold primarily on the domestic market with a small proportion exported to neighbouring countries (and none to Russia). The processing factory, a former farming collective, is located in the village Mandegas some 60 km north of Riga close to the highway, which is convenient for the www.eurofishmagazine.com
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prepared the raw material is then either marinated in a vinegarbased solution for 48 to 72 hours or salted in barrels. Kristina Antonenko, the company technologist, says that in total about 1.5 tonnes of raw material is processed in a day. Of this herring and mackerel make up the majority, while squid and Baltic herring constitute the rest. In contrast to the herring, which is delivered already processed into fillets, the mackerel is whole and is headed, gutted, and filleted in the factory. The waste – heads, guts, bones etc. – goes as raw materials to fish meal factories. The fillet production is done manually as that
trucks that deliver the raw material. Block frozen herring fillets and whole mackerel is imported from Norway primarily, though also from Iceland and Scotland, and forms the raw material used in the production. More recently the company has also been importing frozen squid from Peru to create a new product.
Atlantic herring and mackerel the main raw materials The frozen blocks of herring fillets take 12 to 24 hours to thaw at 8 - 15°C temperature after which the fish is washed. Depending on the product that is to be
Kristina Antonenko, the fish technologist, is responsible for production. Eurofish Magazine 3 / 2016
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03/06/16 5:30 pm