Grieg Seafood first salmon producer in Norway to install Skaginn 3X sub-chilling system

Norwegian salmon-farming firm Grieg Seafood has signed a contract with Icelandic firm Skaginn 3X to install a sub-chilling system at its plants in Norway.

Grieg Seafood ASA, which has farms in Norway, Canada and the Shetland Islands, and packs an annual production capacity of more than 90,000 metric tons of gutted weight, said the new sub-chilling system will allow it to quick-chill its salmon immediately after slaughter, ensuring the product is packed at a temperature that extends its shelf-life by up to a week.

“At Grieg Seafood we strive to be pioneers in implementation of new and progressive technology. Our newest investment (sub-chilling) is a great way for us to meet our goals to provide our customers with the highest quality possible, as well as minimizing our carbon footprint,” Grieg Seafood Alta Plant Manager Stine Torheim said.

According to Skaginn 3X, the sub-chilling process “involves quick-chilling the product to the freezing point,” at negative 1.5 degrees Celcius or 29.3 degrees Farenheit, when it is packed.

“By implementing sub-chilling, the product becomes the refrigerant and eliminates the need for storing the product in ice,” Skaginn 3X said. “This provides opportunities such as less transportation costs, opens new and distance markets, increases the consistency of supply and decreases the environmental effect associated with salmon production and transportation.”

The company said the process extends product shelf-life for five to seven days.

“We expect that the new system will provide more production stability against seasonal temperature fluctuations and increase chilling consistency throughout the year. Furthermore, by extending the product shelf life with sub-chilling, we can now enter distance markets which was not an option in the past,” Torheim said.

Torheim said the system is expected to be operational in April 2017.

“We are excited to produce and market our first sub-chilling salmon, in April. We will immediately reduce the usage of ice and we hope that when the market for sub-chilling salmon has evolved, we can eliminate the use of ice entirely,” Torheim said.

In its release, Skaginn 3X, which on 31 January united into a single entity after previously being a joint venture between Skaginn and 3X Technologies, said it recently installed a sub-chilling system for Arnarlax in Iceland “with great result.”

The company also recently announced its installation of unmanned Fish-Hold robotics for the new HB Grandi trawler Engey RE 91.