Applications and Uses of Fish Mince in the Industry

Fish mince is far more than a simple by-product of fish processing. It is a versatile, protein-rich raw material that sits at the heart of a wide range of food products – from everyday snacks to traditional Japanese delicacies. What makes fish mince particularly valuable in the seafood industry is its ability to undergo protein cross-linking and gel formation, allowing processors to shape, texture, and flavour it in ways that whole fish or fillets simply cannot match. Understanding where and how fish mince is used helps explain why it has become an essential ingredient across food processing, nutrition, and even animal feed industries worldwide.

Why fish mince is a cornerstone of fish processing
Ready-to-eat and convenience products
Fish balls and fish cakes
Fish wafers and cutlets
Fish sausages
Canned, dried, and fermented fish mince products
Canned products
Dried and intermediate moisture products
Fermented fish products
Nutritional advantages of unwashed fish mince
Fish mince as a raw material for surimi production
Kamaboko and Japanese-style surimi products
Restructured and formulated seafood products
Fish mince in animal feed production
The broader significance of fish mince in the seafood industry

Why fish mince is a cornerstone of fish processing

Fish mince is defined as deboned, unwashed fish flesh obtained from fillets or frames, produced at the initial stage of surimi manufacturing. Compared to surimi, fish mince is produced at a significantly higher yield and requires much less capital investment, making it a cost-effective intermediate material for a wide range of products. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), up to twice as much flesh can be recovered through mechanical separation as compared to filleting alone, particularly from species that are difficult or uneconomical to fillet by hand.

The key to fish mince’s functional utility lies in its myofibrillar proteins – primarily myosin and actomyosin. Mincing accelerates the deconformation, aggregation, and cross-linking of these myofibrillar proteins, which enables the development of a wide variety of value-added, texture-specific products. This gel-forming ability is what allows processors to mould fish mince into fish balls, sausages, wafers, and restructured seafood products with consistent quality.

Ready-to-eat and convenience products

The food industry relies heavily on fish mince to manufacture a broad range of consumer-ready products. These items appeal across market segments – from budget-friendly processed foods to premium value-added seafood items.

Fish balls and fish cakes

Fish mince is commonly frozen and then thawed for use in formulated seafood products such as fish sticks, fish cakes, nuggets, chowders, patés, fish balls, and gefilte fish. Fish balls, popular across South and East Asian cuisines, are produced by blending fish mince with seasonings, salt, and starch binders, then shaping and cooking them. The elastic, springy texture of a well-made fish ball is a direct result of myofibrillar protein gelation. Fish cakes follow a similar principle – fish mince is combined with ingredients such as potato, breadcrumbs, and spices, then shaped and fried or baked.

Fish wafers and cutlets

Fish wafers are a particularly interesting application. Low-fat fish species are preferred for wafer production, where mince is combined with starch and seasonings and then processed into thin, crispy sheets. These are popular as snacks in several Asian markets. Fish cutlets, on the other hand, are formed from mince mixed with spiced potato or other fillers and shallow-fried. Both products highlight the ability of fish mince to accept flavourings uniformly – something that whole fish fillets do not permit to the same degree.

Fish sausages

Fish sausages are made by seasoning fish mince and stuffing it into casings using manual or automatic sausage filling machines. End products are stored under domestic freezing conditions, preferably using bulk vacuum packaging, to maintain microbial and chemical quality. Fish sausages have gained traction as a lower-fat alternative to conventional meat sausages, particularly in markets where seafood consumption is culturally embedded. The uniform texture and binding capacity of fish mince make it ideal for this format.

Canned, dried, and fermented fish mince products

Beyond fresh and frozen applications, fish mince is also widely used in shelf-stable food formats. Fish mince is used for the production of canned products, dried and intermediate moisture products (IMP), fermented products, and for the production of animal feeds. Each of these categories extends the utility of fish mince into different supply chains and consumer markets.

Canned products

Fish mince can be packed into cans with sauces, oils, or brine and thermally processed for long shelf-life storage. Canned fish mince products are particularly useful for food security applications in low-income or remote regions, offering affordable, protein-rich nutrition in a convenient format. The homogeneous texture of mince makes it well-suited to even filling of cans, reducing void space and improving consistency.

Dried and intermediate moisture products

Dried fish mince products involve removing moisture from the mince – either through sun drying, mechanical drying, or spray drying – to produce shelf-stable ingredients. Intermediate moisture products (IMPs) are processed to retain some water activity while still resisting microbial spoilage, making them soft-textured yet stable. Fatty fish mince can be used for a range of flavoured fish finger products by adding suitable sauces, such as tomato, curry, mustard, or cheese, and mince lends itself to considerable modification of texture, flavour, and appearance, including the addition of stabilisers and additives.

Fermented fish products

Fermented fish mince products are important in many traditional food cultures, particularly across South and Southeast Asia. Fish sauce, fish paste, and fermented fish silage are all examples where minced fish undergoes controlled microbial or enzymatic transformation. The result is a product rich in amino acids, flavour compounds, and bioactive peptides. Fish are excellent sources of high-quality protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals – and fermented mince-based products retain much of this nutritional value while extending shelf life considerably.

Nutritional advantages of unwashed fish mince

One important distinction in fish mince processing is whether the mince is washed or unwashed. While washing improves gel-forming properties and is essential for surimi production, it also removes a significant proportion of water-soluble nutrients. The nutritional properties of unwashed fish mince are similar to those of the raw material, while superior to those of surimi – unwashed mince retains higher levels of water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and lipids compared to washed mince.

Research on rockfish mince showed that washing significantly reduced phosphorus, potassium, and sodium levels, while iron, copper, zinc, and chromium levels increased in the washed fraction. Furthermore, calcium content is typically higher in fish mince compared to fillets, due to small bone fragments incorporated during mechanical deboning – a nutritional benefit rather than a defect. Unwashed fish mince also retains omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), which help to prevent cardiovascular diseases and support mental health. For applications such as animal feed, canned goods, and fermented products where maximum nutrient retention is preferred, unwashed fish mince is the material of choice.

Fish mince as a raw material for surimi production

Perhaps the most commercially significant application of fish mince is as the starting material for surimi production. The word “surimi” is Japanese and means “minced fish” – it refers to a frozen block of fish myofibrillar protein concentrate mixed with cryoprotectants and then frozen. The surimi manufacturing process begins with mechanical deboning to produce fish mince, which is then washed repeatedly with cold water to remove sarcoplasmic proteins, lipids, pigments, and digestive enzymes that could reduce gelation capacity and cause off-flavours.

Myofibrillar proteins – particularly myosin and actomyosin – must be dissolved in a high concentration of salt (NaCl), enabling them to form a gel when heated due to denaturation, interaction, and aggregation. This is the foundation of surimi’s remarkable functionality. The resulting protein gel, known as kamaboko, is firm, elastic, and can be flavoured and shaped to mimic a wide range of seafood products.

Kamaboko and Japanese-style surimi products

In Japan, surimi has traditionally been used to produce kamaboko – a mildly flavoured fish gel that is nearly tasteless and widely used in Japanese cuisine. Kamaboko is made by shaping surimi paste onto wooden boards and steaming or grilling it until the protein sets into a firm, elastic gel. Its distinctive texture, called ashi in Japanese, is the hallmark of quality. The characteristic of kamaboko is its elastic texture – an important component in the formation of this elasticity is actomyosin contained in fish meat, and denaturation of actomyosin must be prevented during processing.

Beyond kamaboko, surimi from fish mince is used to produce chikuwa (a grilled tubular product), hanpen (a soft steamed cake), and narutomaki (the pink-swirled fish cake commonly seen in ramen). The gelling properties of proteins in surimi have been utilised commercially in the imitation of high-value marine products: crab meat, scallops, and shrimp. Imitation crab sticks – now ubiquitous in supermarkets globally – are perhaps the most widely recognised surimi-based product in Western markets.

Restructured and formulated seafood products

Surimi derived from fish mince has enabled the development of an entire category of restructured and formulated seafood products. Surimi is widely consumed in the form of crab sticks, fish balls, and kamaboko – made using white meat from lean saltwater fish such as Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting, through repeated washing of the fish mince until a mixture primarily composed of myofibrillar proteins and cryoprotectants is achieved. These products have the advantage of consistent texture, extended shelf life, affordable pricing, and a neutral flavour base that accommodates a wide range of seasonings and formulations.

Surimi-based products are nutritionally valuable due to their essential amino acid composition, high-quality proteins with excellent digestibility, and low fat content. This makes them relevant not only in traditional markets like Japan but increasingly in health-conscious consumer segments in Europe, North America, and beyond.

Fish mince in animal feed production

Not all fish mince ends up in human food products. A substantial portion – particularly lower-grade mince from frames, trimmings, and underutilised species – is processed into animal feed ingredients, primarily fish meal. Fish meal is a nutrient-dense feed supplement containing high-quality protein, minerals, B vitamins, and other vitamins, including water-soluble B-group vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, choline, and vitamin B12, as well as oil-soluble vitamins A and D.

Fish mince and fish silage made from minced fish are used as feed for marine fish, crustaceans, poultry, ruminants, pigs, and pets. The use of fish mince in animal feed is not only economically practical – it also supports sustainable resource utilisation by converting fish processing waste into high-value nutrition. By converting underutilised resources into high-value products, fish mincing supports food security while reducing processing waste.

The broader significance of fish mince in the seafood industry

Taken together, the applications of fish mince represent a comprehensive approach to seafood resource utilisation. From the fish ball stall in a Vietnamese market to the kamaboko displayed in a Japanese convenience store, fish mince is the underlying ingredient. Its ability to be washed into a neutral protein base (surimi) or retained in its nutrient-rich unwashed form gives processors the flexibility to target diverse product categories. Mince lends itself to considerable modification of texture, flavour and appearance – given imaginative development and marketing, there are good prospects for introducing a wide range of commercial food products from minced fish.

As global demand for affordable, sustainable protein continues to grow, fish mince is positioned to play an even more prominent role – not just in traditional seafood markets, but in novel food formulations, functional foods, and aquaculture feed systems worldwide.

What do you think? Given that unwashed fish mince retains more nutrients than surimi, should the food industry develop more direct-use unwashed mince products instead of prioritising surimi production? And as imitation seafood products made from surimi become more mainstream globally, do you think they can fully replace traditional whole-fish consumption in terms of nutrition and cultural value?

References

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Table of Contents

Why fish mince is a cornerstone of fish processing 🔗

Ready-to-eat and convenience products 🔗

Fish balls and fish cakes 🔗

Fish wafers and cutlets 🔗

Fish sausages 🔗

Canned, dried, and fermented fish mince products 🔗

Canned products 🔗

Dried and intermediate moisture products 🔗

Fermented fish products 🔗

Nutritional advantages of unwashed fish mince 🔗

Fish mince as a raw material for surimi production 🔗

Kamaboko and Japanese-style surimi products 🔗

Restructured and formulated seafood products 🔗

Fish mince in animal feed production 🔗

The broader significance of fish mince in the seafood industry 🔗