Producers strive for quality

Salted fish, mostly cod, has been produced in Iceland for centuries. Traditional markets have always been Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, where high quality salted cod has always been regarded as a delicacy – particularly at Christmas – and has long commanded high prices. Although the bulk of the market is for salted cod, small amounts of salted tusk, ling and saithe are also produced.

In a typical saltfish processing plant the fish is first gutted by hand and washed before being filleted or split by machine. Cod fillets are kept first in brine for twenty four hours, after which they are salted in coarse salt for a further ten days before being packed for export. Split cod, the traditional way of preparing saltfish, is kept in brine for three days before being salted for ten days. Plastic tubs are now largely used in all stages of the salting process.

When the salting period is complete the fish are gently removed from the salt, after which the finished saltfish is carefully graded for size and quality and weighed before being packed into boxes for export. The grading process has become critical, as the largest sizes of fish command the highest prices. Although fish exported to some countries is still stacked onto pallets, most is packed into boxes, and the old style saltfish sacks are now rarely seen.

One Reykjavik based processor commented that 90 % of his company's fish is bought from fish markets around the country, and that great care is taken to buy fish caught either on longlines or handlines wherever possible. Fish caught with hooked gear is reported to be of the quality needed to produce the highest quality saltfish.

A number of small companies have begun producing saltfish in all parts of Iceland in the last couple of years, although there are only a few large producers. Sales are for the most part handled by SIF (The Union of Icelandic Fish Producers Ltd.) which is the biggest exporter and which had a monopoly on saltfish sales until 1992, but there is now an increasing trend for producers to make their own contacts with buyers in other countries.

SIF reported recently that France has become one of its main markets for saltfish products, accounting for exports of 7,200 tonnes last year. In the past the bulk of SIF's exports have gone to Spain and Portugal, but since having acquired a saltfish processing plant in France, this has become a major outlet for the group's exports.

Cod split and flattened in the traditional manner has long been the mainstay of saltfish production in Iceland, and 15,600 tonnes of cod processed in this way were handled by SIF last year, accounting for 53 % of the group's activities. 7,200 tonnes of other species, notably saithe, processed in the same way were handled by SIF last year, as well as 2,100 tonnes of salted fillets.

Saithe has become an increasingly important species for saltfish producers, with cod becoming more expensive. According to recently released figures, the total saithe catch for last year came to 63,000 tonnes, of which 27,000 tonnes were processed as saltfish, an increase of more than 50 % over the previous year.

(WORLD FISHING. AUGUST 2007)

Exercise 2. Answer the questions to the text:

1. ^{What are the traditional markets for salted fish in Iceland?}

2. ^{How are fish processed at the plant?}

3. ^{What is usually done after salting?}

4. ^{What are the main producers?}

5. ^{What country has become one of the main markets and why?}

6. ^{What is the mainstay of saltfish production?}

7. ^{What are the traditional salted fish products in our country?}