Scale up production of authentic fish sauce by enzyme accelerated fermentation

该提案旨在扩展 PI 与工业合作伙伴（Neptune，3349559 Canada Inc.）之间最近完成的 NSERC Engage 和 NSERC Engage Plus 合作研究项目。 Engage 项目的总体目标是开发新颖且具有成本效益的技术，利用未充分利用的鱼类生产正宗且安全的发酵鱼露，并为公司发展创造新的机会。鱼露是一种琥珀色液体，具有独特的浓郁风味，传统上由低价值的鱼和鱼副产品发酵制成。它在一些东南亚和东亚国家的菜肴中用作调味品。发酵产品通常与其他成分混合，以“醇化”刺鼻的味道和香气，形成浓郁的咸味成品，为食物增添浓郁的鲜味。北美的亚洲移民人口一直在稳步增长，导致加拿大和美国对鱼露的需求不断增加。泰国和越南的鱼露是北美超市常见的产品。然而，市场上并不是所有的鱼露都是正品，各个食品和卫生监管机构也曾报告过假冒伪劣的鱼露类型。例如，美国 FDA 最近禁止了一种掺假鱼露“pairoj”，原因包括不符合 FDA 控制肉毒杆菌和组胺危害的 HACCP 要求；不安全的产品处理、制备和包装。据该行业合作伙伴称，出于不卫生和安全的原因，当地市场对加拿大制造的鱼露比亚洲国家市场上的鱼露更感兴趣。该公司最初在Engage项目中确定了5种丰富但未充分利用的鱼类（毛鳞鱼、gaspereaux、鱿鱼、大西洋鲱鱼和鲭鱼），为国内和出口市场生产鱼露；在比较研究中，实验室产品被认为优于市场上的知名产品，即红船。这项后续研究旨在扩大鱼露的生产规模，从而调整加工参数，以更好地适应商业生产

This proposal is to extend recently completed NSERC Engage & NSERC Engage Plus collaborative research projects between the PI and the industrial partner (Neptune, 3349559 Canada Inc.). The overall goal of the Engage projects was to develop novel and cost-effective technologies to produce authentic and safe fermented fish sauce from underutilized fish species and create new opportunities to grow the company. Fish sauce is an amber-colored liquid with a distinct intense flavor and is traditionally made from fermentation of low value fish and fish byproducts. It is used as a condiment in cuisines of several Southeast and East Asia countries. The fermented product is typically mixed with other ingredients to "mellow" the harsh taste and aroma, to form an intense savory finished product that can add a lush umami-flavor to foods. The population of Asian immigrants in North America has been growing steadily, resulting in increasing demands for fish sauce in Canada and the US. Fish sauces from Thailand and Vietnam are the products commonly found in supermarkets in North America. However, not all the fish sauce on the market is authentic, and various food and health regulatory agencies have reported fake and counterfeit types. For example, the U.S. FDA recently banned an adulterated fish sauce, "pairoj", for reasons including non-compliance with FDA's HACCP requirements for controlling hazards of botulism and histamine; unsafe product handling, preparation, and packaging. According to the industrial partner, the local market has keen interest in a Canadian made fish sauce versus varieties on the market from Asian countries for unhygienic and safety reasons. The company initially identified 5 abundant but underutilized fish species (capelin, gaspereaux, squid, Atlantic herring and mackerel) in the Engage projects for producing the fish sauce for the domestic and export markets; and in comparative studies the lab products were adjudged to be superior to a well-known product on the market, i.e., Red Boat. This proposed follow-up research is to scale up production of the fish sauce to enable adjustments of processing parameters to better suit commercial production