– Super cooling eliminates the need for ice in the boxes, and thus makes room for more salmon in each box, says researcher at Nofima, Bjørn Tore Rotabakk in a press release. As long as there is no ice in the boxes, there is also no water that will flow out of the trucks and create dangerous traffic situations. A recent report from the food research institute Nofima looks at the economic and environmental effects of supercooling salmon. The findings show major climate and environmental benefits. In addition to reduced costs for the farming industry, the possibility of having fewer trucks on the roads and better durability of the fish. If the industry switches to supercooling, around 15,000 trailer loads of salmon, and as many trailers in return, could be taken off the roads. Freezes the fish very quickly Super cooling has been a topic for many years, but now the research team is establishing the great advantages of the freezing method, commissioned by the Norwegian Fisheries and Aquaculture Industry’s Research Funding (FHF). Fish freezes at between -0.5 and -1.5 °C. Supercooling means that the fish is cooled down very quickly using, for example, subcooled liquid, dry ice or freezing technology. Once the fish is frozen, the further transport out of the slaughterhouse and out to the market only needs to be kept around zero degrees. Fish freezes between – 0.5 and -1.5 °C. By supercooling salmon, you can save both the environment and remove costs, shows the project “New methods for better shelf life and more environmentally friendly transport of salmon products”. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB – As long as the fish is sufficiently chilled in advance, you don’t need the ice. You only need a little, to be absolutely sure that the temperature stays around zero degrees all the way to the consumer, says researcher at Nofima, Audun Iversen to news. He points out that without ice in the boxes, each box can contain more fish. This in turn gives the opportunity to fill the cars and planes with more fish. This means that there is a need for fewer trailers or trolleys. The fish has also been shown to have a better shelf life. – Better durability can again mean that more of the fish can be transported by boat instead of by plane, says Iversen, to news. – We are positive. It is good that research is being carried out on this and it is positive that it gives the product an ever-increasing shelf life, says communications manager at Sjømat Norge, Øyvind André Haram. Can save NOK 1.5 billion The researchers behind the report are Audun Iversen and Bjørn Tore Rotabakk from Nofima and Friederike Ziegler from the Swedish research institute Rise. The researchers point out that if the entire Norwegian salmon production was supercooled before transport, the industry could save around NOK 1.5 billion annually in transport costs. Researcher in the food research institute Nofima, Audun Iversen, is one of three researchers who have looked at the potential of supercooling fish. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen / news In addition, supercooling can reduce the use of packaging and transport by up to 20 per cent. – Supercooling will reduce the costs of packaging and distribution by close to 70 øre per kilo produced for trailer transport to Europe. If all Norwegian salmon production was supercooled before transport, the industry could therefore save around 1 billion on this transport, says Iversen in the press release. They also point out that with air transport the savings are even greater: around 2.70 per kilo, or around half a billion for the entire industry. Haven’t looked at runoff specifically. Every day over 150 trucks leave Norway with fresh farmed salmon. Each styrofoam box contains 21 kilograms of salmon and three to five kilograms of ice. If the ice is not frozen, water flows out of the trucks and on winter roads this freezes again into dangerous ice. – Runoff from transport is a problem that we struggle with every day. There is no quick fix for this. But thumbs up if solutions are found, says Haram. In Norway, salmon fish such as Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and sea trout are mainly farmed. This is farmed salmon at Cermaq. Photo: Jan Harald Tomassen / news – Fish without ice also does not cause runoff from meltwater on the trailer. It is a great advantage in terms of traffic safety and reputation, but we have not tried to value it here, Bjørn-Tore Rotabakk points out in the press release. – This is a new technology that is being tested. Some have started to use it, but it has the potential for more people to do so, says Iversen to news.
ttn-69
Believes that supercooling salmon can reduce traffic-dangerous runoff – news Trøndelag
