Revision of the standards on fish preserves in special brine
Present revision of the standards on fish preserves in special brine has been conducted as a part of operation of the Technical Committee for Standardization TC 300 “Fish products for human and animal consumption, and industrial purposes, as well as their package”. This article presents the analysis of the requirements currently set by acting standards on the preserves in special brine produced using the Pontic shad, Japanese pilchard, Pacific saury, horse mackerel, Atlantic mackerel, and other fish species; the conclusion on the feasibility of inclusion of the analyzed requirements to the newest standard on preserves currently in development is stated. Taking into consideration the classification commonly used in the fisheries, the preserves with fat content in fish exceeding 8 % are proposed to be considered as a fatty fish product; this information could be indicated in the label of preserves. It is shown to be impractical to standardize fish length in the final preserved product due to its discrepancy with the minimum landing size, which also takes into account that the catch of certain fish species is regulated by international agreements. As per requirements of TR EAEU 040/2016, presence of aging traits in preserves has not been adopted as a required property of this product, requirements for its buffer capacity have not been included in the developed draft standard, and the buffer value is not considered to be an intrinsic indicator for fish aging in preserves. The standards for the content of salt (sodium chloride) and preserving agents, as well as for the weight percentage of fish in the preserves in special brine have been elaborated and specified. Application of the developed standard will facilitate the adherence to the TR EAEU 040/2016 requirements.