N. Riekstins
LATVIA
Lamprey baked on charcoal is one of the most popular ways of preparing the ďŹ sh in Carnikava county.
Vidzeme coast of the Gulf of Riga, mainly in the Carnikava region. The fish are processed using traditional recipes and skills, handed down from generation to generation. Even today in Carnikava, lamprey is caught by local fishermen and processed by local small family businesses. The lamprey can be prepared in different ways (fried, grilled, served in soup or salad, or even as sushi), but the best-known recipe in Carnikava county is lamprey baked on charcoal. Since February 2015, Carnikava lamprey has been allowed to use
the EU’s Protected Geographical Indication label. As this is an ancient tradition, Latvia is implementing several measures to preserve and promote the practice of catching and processing lamprey, for example by holding lamprey festivals in Carnikava, Salacgriva and Păvilosta. Each year the Ministry of Agriculture awards prizes to the most successful entrepreneurs in the fisheries sector. In 2016, the company, Krupis Ltd., a river lamprey processor from Carnikava, won the prize for promoting processed river lamprey.
The Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies works closely with industry
Creating new products to reect current tastes Fishing and ďŹ sh processing is a historical national cultural heritage of the Republic of Latvia, which arose as a result of the relative length of the country’s coastline. The Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies trains ďŹ sh processing specialists developing their competence in an environment of technological, economic, and demographic changes.
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esponding to recent challenges – the loss of an important market for canned fish and the shortage of labour – scientists at the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LULST), together with the association of fishermen, Zalakei Pasaulei (Towards a greener world), and with the support of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), have developed a programme to expand the range of food products made from the delicate and nutritionally valuable Baltic sprat – also used for the production of fishmeal. As part of this programme scientists at the university have developed and patented
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a waste-free technology for obtaining minced fish from sprat. Technologists made fish mince-based ready-to-eat fish products: dumplings, sausages, terrines, spaghetti, fish fingers, and cutlets, which were positively evaluated at tasting sessions. Moreover, in terms of profitability, margins on these products compared very favourably with those derived from the production of canned food.
Product from minced ďŹ sh enjoys international success The production of these items calls for significant investments in equipment, and so far one
Kaspars Gerhards, Minister of Agriculture, was positive in his assessment of the products developed by LULST scientists.
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