Punjab News Express
LUDHIANA: Demand of fish as healthy, nutritious, convenient and quality food is increasing day by day, but at the same time it is also a highly perishable food item which needs proper handling and preservation, starting from the catch till consumption. Processing for value addition of fish play a major role to cope up fish demand, reduce post harvest losses and popularize fish among locals these views were expressed by Dr Asha Dhawan, Dean, College of Fisheries of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University.
She was addressing at the concluding session of five days training programme on 'Fish Processing and Value Addition' at College of Fisheries. She said that there is immense scope in developing value added products from fish and enhance the profitability of the fish farmers through processing, which is required to be integrated with an effective marketing channel. Relevance of fish processing is more in present scenario to tackle fluctuations in fish price. Processed fish can be preserved during lean period for extended availability. Dr Meera D Ansal, Head of the department told that the training programme was held to educate and provide hands on training to the fish farmers and or entrepreneurs for developing processing skills to establish small scale fish processing units for higher economic returns. Farmers from different districts of Punjab attended the training programme. The major focus was on processing and value addition for carp fish, which is a major freshwater fish, cultured in India and the only freshwater fish, cultured in the State.
The training programme was technically designed to provide practical training in developing value added products from carps, which otherwise are not consumed by locals due to intramuscular spines or pin bones said Dr. Ajeet Singh, course co-ordinator. Vijay Kumar Reddy was technical co-ordinator of the training programme. The trainees were given practical exposure to operate different machinery and other processing related activities like cleaning, preservation, cutting, deboning, products preparation and packaging with special reference to quality assurance, marketing and preparation of valuable by-product from fish processing waste through 'Zero Wastage Fish Processing Technology' developed by GADVASU. During the training programme, trainees were provided 'Hands on Training' for different value added fish delicacies (fish balls, fish cutlets, fish fingers, fish sausages and pickle) and by-products (fish meal and fish silage).
During the training, Harpreet Singh, Public Relation Officer, GADVASU educated the farmers about the role of mass media in marketing of fish and fish products; Dr. J.S. Hundal, Assistant Professor, Department of Extension, told about other utility services provided to the livestock farmers by the university and Dr. Nitin Mehta, Assistant Professor, Department of Livestock Products Technology, apprised the farmers about quality assurance and certification of value added products prepared from fish.