Analysis of the Current Status and Trends of China's Aquatic Product Processing Industry
“Food is the first necessity of the people.” Food is the basic material on which humanity depends for survival. In addition to containing nutritional and health-promoting components such as high protein, rich highly unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and trace elements, aquatic foods also contain large amounts of flavor substances such as carnosine, anserine, trimethylamine oxide, betaine, free amino acids, inosinic acid, taurine, succinic acid and others, thus constituting the unique flavor of aquatic foods, which are deeply loved by consumers. Moreover, aquatic products are also one of the most important sources of animal protein for humanity.
I. Current Status of China's Aquatic Product Processing Industry
China is a major fishing nation, and in recent years the national total output of aquatic products has remained at around 45 million tons. Aquatic product processing is an important way to improve the comprehensive benefits and added value of aquatic products. High-quality aquatic products can effectively enhance product grade through deep processing, while low-value aquatic products can both increase nutritional sources and improve comprehensive utilization rates through deep processing. The Outline of China's Food Structure Reform and Development clearly states that the proportion of aquatic products in animal foods should be higher than 20%. To meet the requirements set forth in the “Outline of China's Food Structure Reform and Development in the 1990s,” the aquatic product processing industry, while improving the quality and safety of traditional products, also faces tasks such as increasing the variety of aquatic products and deep processing. China's aquatic product processing has now formed a large number of modern aquatic product processing enterprises, including surimi product processing, laver processing, roasted eel processing, seasoned products, canned and soft-packaged processing, dried product processing, frozen product processing and fresh-kept aquatic product processing, fish meal, seaweed food, seaweed chemicals, seafood health foods, marine drugs, fish skin leather and handicrafts. These enterprises have become the main driving force and link for the rapid development of China's aquatic industry and its integration with the international market. With the substantial progress of China's fishery industry, the aquatic product processing industry has also made breakthrough progress. According to statistics, in 2004 the national total output of aquatic products was 49.018 million tons, an increase of 1.957 million tons over 2003, growing by 4.2%. Among this, marine capture output was 14.511 million tons, which after deducting distant-water fishing output represented a negative growth of 0.8%; mariculture output was 13.167 million tons, an increase of 634,000 tons over 2003, growing by 5.1%; freshwater capture output was 2.42 million tons, a decrease of 42,000 tons over 2003, a negative growth of 1.7%; freshwater aquaculture output was 18.92 million tons, an increase of 1.177 million tons over 2003, growing by 6.64%. Of the total output, capture output was 16.931 million tons, accounting for 34.5% of the total; aquaculture output was 32.087 million tons, accounting for 65.5% of the total. Seafood output was 27.678 million tons, accounting for 56.5% of the total; freshwater product output was 21.34 million tons, accounting for 43.5% of the total. The national per capita share of aquatic products was 38.7 kg, an increase of 1.5 kg over 2003. Calculated at 2004 prices, the total output value of the entire society's fishery industry was 670.24 billion yuan, of which fishery output value was 379.62 billion yuan, representing increases of 16% and 14.2% respectively compared with 2003.
Driven by the international aquatic product consumer market, China's aquatic product processing and export have developed at high speed, and the number of processing enterprises has increased rapidly, reaching 8,745 in 2004, an increase of 458 over 2003. Annual processing capacity was 14.27 million tons, an increase of 9.3% over 2003; total aquatic product processing volume was 10.32 million tons, an increase of 13.2% over 2003. Frozen aquatic products and frozen processed aquatic products remained the most important component, with output reaching 5.993 million tons, accounting for 51.4% of the total processing volume. Seaweed processed products were 447,000 tons, surimi products and dried and salted products were 1.704 million tons, canned products were 144,000 tons, animal protein feed was 1.683 million tons, fish oil products were 23,000 tons, and other aquatic processed products were 773,000 tons. Converted to raw materials, the amount of aquatic products used for processing was 13.823 million tons, accounting for 28% of the total output of aquatic products. China's aquatic product processing methods are diverse and have a long history, and can be divided into traditional techniques and modern techniques. Traditional processing mainly refers to salting, drying, smoking, fermentation in distillers' grains and natural fermentation, etc. With the development of China's national economy, scientific and technological progress, and the introduction of advanced foreign production equipment and processing technologies, China's aquatic product processing technologies, methods and means have undergone fundamental changes, and both the technical content and economic added value of aquatic processed products have been greatly improved. The effective market demand for aquatic processed products will continue to expand along with the improvement of residents' living standards and the acceleration of the pace of life, and this point is obvious.
II. Future Development Trends of China's Aquatic Product Processing
In the 21st century today, the process of global economic integration is accelerating, international trade and cooperation are increasingly extensive, scientific and technological innovation is changing with each passing day, and people have put forward higher requirements in both production and daily life. Nutrition, health, convenience, deliciousness and freshness have become dietary trends.
The trends in aquatic product processing can be summarized in the following 5 directions.
First, convenience. Some aquatic products are first processed into fish paste, and then fish paste is used to produce various fish cakes, fish preserves, fish steaks or fish sausages and other products for consumers to eat directly. They are both nutritious and storable, and convenient to carry.
Second, simulation. Fish paste can be made into simulated products that approximate crab, shrimp, shellfish, shark fin, fish roe and others in color, aroma, taste and shape. Whether at home or in restaurant dining, such simulated products can equally become distinctive convenience aquatic foods or side dishes.
Third, health orientation. Using aquatic products as raw materials, according to a certain formula and combined with appropriate medicinal ingredients, using the flavor of aquatic products and drawing on the properties of the medicinal ingredients, various aquatic health foods are made. Because of their low cholesterol content, they can become truly “medicinal diets.”
Fourth, beauty orientation. The vast majority of fish roe is not only delicious and nutritious, but also rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron and lecithin and other elements and minerals. It is an internationally popular beauty and health food, and the deep processing of fish roe has great prospects.
Fifth, fresh and segmented processing. After scientific segmentation and processing, aquatic products can retain their original fresh taste. For example, freshwater fish, in addition to advocating nearby and local live sales and fresh sales, can also be segmented into frozen small packages, which allows longer storage and better meets the consumption needs of different consumers, making purchasing convenient.
After joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), China's aquatic processing enterprises should adopt high and new technologies to carry out deep development of aquatic products, make full use of aquatic resources, meet people's needs, rely on science and technology and the market, improve the scientific and technological content of products, accelerate the process of integration with international standards, and develop diversified aquatic foods. Moving toward deep processing is the development direction of China's aquatic product processing industry. Product competitiveness can be improved by relying on technological innovation. On the basis of existing processing technologies, aquatic products should adopt new methods, new techniques and new technologies to carry out technological innovation, with emphasis on developing deep-processed products with a certain degree of advanced technology, high technological content and high added value, and strengthening the research and development of aquatic medical and health foods, functional foods and convenience foods as well as the development and utilization of aquatic waste.
The Ministry of Agriculture has formulated the “National Plan for the Development of Major Agricultural Product Processing Industries,” which clearly states that future aquatic product production and processing should focus on the intensive processing and comprehensive utilization of bulk products, low-value products and waste, optimize product structure, and promote the establishment of processing industry systems for freshwater fish, shellfish, pelagic fish and algae. In addition, a number of dynamic leading aquatic product processing enterprises should be cultivated and guided, and by accelerating technological transformation, the development of products that are well-suited to the market should be promoted, continuously increasing their share of domestic and international markets.
In the processing of marine products, emphasis should be placed on researching and developing new capture targets and processing them into high-quality fish meal, fish fillets, surimi, simulated foods and seasonings. For the processing of low-value marine aquatic products, on the basis of increasing efforts in the development of traditional aquatic foods, refined edible fresh fish paste should be extensively developed, and then fresh fish paste should be used as a raw material to produce flavored fish balls, fish rolls, fish cakes, fish sausages, fish snacks and other convenience foods and microwave foods, as well as high-grade synthetic aquatic foods such as artificial crab meat, shellfish meat, shark fin and fish roe with excellent color, aroma and taste, thereby improving the comprehensive utilization rate and added value of low-value products.
In the processing of freshwater fish, the principle of “first preservation of freshness, second preservation of life, third processing” should be followed, with sales mainly of live and fresh products. Under ice-chilled and frozen conditions, segmented and sliced processing should be gradually developed, distribution should be well managed, and the development of surimi, fish fillets and new salted-dried products, smoked products and seasoned products should be well carried out, with comprehensive processing, development and utilization of the inedible parts to improve added value.
In the processing of shellfish, the main tasks are to properly carry out live-keeping, purification and disinfection, and to carry out diversified development, such as shellfish seasonings, dried products, smoked products and soft-packaged canned foods, as well as calcium source foods for humans and animals.