How can you reduce salmon preparation time in ready meal production?
Ready meal production with salmon can be costly not only because of the price of the fish itself. A significant part of the costs is generated by operations carried out before the actual production begins: thawing whole fillets, removing skin and remaining bones, trimming portions, weighing, sorting, and handling the resulting waste.
In larger plants, every additional operation means more working minutes, greater staff involvement, and the risk of differences between individual product batches.
One way to simplify this process is to replace whole fillets with ready-made frozen salmon cubes, prepared directly for further processing.
Depending on the plant’s current organisation, such a solution can shorten the raw material preparation stage by up to around 35%.
Why does producing meals from whole fillets take so long?
A whole salmon fillet offers great flexibility of use, but it requires many additional operations.
Before placing the fish in the finished meal, staff often have to:
- open the packaging and prepare the fillets for further work,
- inspect the surface of the raw material,
- remove remaining skin, fat, or individual bones,
- divide the fillet into smaller pieces,
- weigh portions according to the recipe,
- sort the pieces by size,
- remove trimmings and production residues,
- wash and disinfect the workstation after cutting.
Each of these stages on its own may take little time. However, in production involving several hundred kilograms of salmon per day, the total of these additional operations becomes a significant burden for the entire plant.
What does shortening the process involve?
Frozen salmon cubes are a raw material prepared in a repeatable format, which can be directed straight to the next stage of the technological process.
Atlantic salmon cubes B&P available in the Master Meat range measure approximately 20 × 20 × 20 mm. The product is prepared skinless, without the fat line, without glaze, and without added water, which reduces the scope of work carried out before portioning and heat treatment.
Instead of:
fillet → inspection → trimming → sorting → weighing → portion
the process can look as follows:
salmon cube → dosing → heat treatment → packaging
The greatest saving therefore does not have to come from faster cooking of the fish, but from removing some of the operations carried out before actual production.
Where can the greatest time savings be achieved?
1. No need for manual fillet cutting
When using ready-made cubes, the plant does not need to divide each fillet into smaller pieces.
This helps reduce the use of:
- cutting tables and filleting workstations,
- knives and cutting equipment,
- staff preparing the raw material,
- containers for trimmings,
- time allocated to washing the workstation.
In larger plants, eliminating the cutting stage alone may be more important than a small difference in the raw material purchase price.
2. Faster portioning according to the recipe
The uniform cube format makes it easier to dose salmon into trays, bowls, MAP packs, or individual production batches.
The technologist can set a specific fish weight per portion, for example:
- 50 g for a salad,
- 70 g for a poke bowl dish,
- 80 g for a pasta dish,
- 100 g for a main meal.
The worker or dosing device does not need to adjust irregular fillet fragments to the required gram weight each time.
3. Less raw material sorting
When cutting fillets manually, pieces of varying surface area, thickness, and weight are created. Some of them may require additional trimming or redirecting to another product.
A standardised cube reduces the number of atypical pieces and makes it easier to maintain a similar appearance for each portion.
This is particularly important for meals sold in transparent packaging, where the customer can see the size and arrangement of the salmon pieces.
4. Reduced production waste
When purchasing whole fillets, the plant pays for the full raw material weight, but not every part of it necessarily ends up in the final meal.
Losses may arise during:
- trimming the fillet,
- equalising portions,
- removing fat fragments,
- eliminating irregular pieces,
- leaving raw material on equipment and tables.
B&P cubes have no glaze or added water, so the product weight is easier to include in recipe calculations.
For the manufacturer, therefore, not only the price of one kilogram matters, but also the number of finished portions that can actually be produced from the purchased batch.
Is shortening production by 35% realistic?
Such a result may be realistic in plants where preparing whole fillets is a significant part of the process.
An example salmon batch preparation stage may include:
| Process stage | Whole fillet | Ready-made cube |
|---|---|---|
| Raw material inspection and preparation | required | limited |
| Skin removal or trimming | possible | not required |
| Cutting into portions | required | not required |
| Sorting pieces | required | limited |
| Weighing and dosing | required | required |
| Handling trimmings | required | significantly limited |
| Washing the cutting workstation | required | limited |
If fillet preparation currently accounts for around one third of the time before packaging, eliminating most of these operations can shorten the whole process by more than a dozen percent, and in properly organised plants even by up to around 35%.
However, the final result depends on:
- the efficiency of the current line,
- the degree of automation,
- the number of employees,
- the type of fillet purchased,
- the required portion gram weight,
- the production batch size,
- the method of thawing and processing the cubes.
Therefore, the best solution is to carry out a comparative test on the customer’s actual recipe.
How to calculate the actual savings?
The manufacturer can compare two production variants:
Variant A – whole fillets
The following should be measured:
- batch preparation time,
- the number of employees involved,
- raw material weight before processing,
- the weight of fish used in finished meals,
- the amount of trimmings and waste,
- the number of portions produced.
Variant B – ready-made salmon cubes
Then the measurement should be repeated for the same number of portions, using ready-made cubes.
For comparison, it is worth using a simple indicator:
fish cost in one finished portion = total cost of the raw material used ÷ number of correct portions
Additionally, the following should be added:
- labour time,
- workstation operating cost,
- raw material losses,
- washing cost,
- waste handling cost.
Only such a comparison shows the actual food cost. The purchase price per kilogram is not always the most important parameter.
Repeatable cube size and finished meal quality
The uniform salmon format affects not only efficiency, but also the appearance and perception of the product.
A similar piece size helps achieve:
- a similar heat treatment time,
- even preparation of the flesh,
- a repeatable number of cubes in the pack,
- an aesthetic appearance of each portion,
- easier control of recipe compliance,
- smaller differences between production shifts.
This is particularly important for manufacturers supplying products to retail chains, diet catering, or customers requiring a fixed specification.
What products can salmon cubes be used for?
Salmon cubes work well wherever fish should be a visible, clearly separated element of the meal.
They can be used, among others, in the production of:
- ready meals with rice,
- pasta and udon dishes,
- poke bowls,
- chilled salads,
- catering meals,
- curries and fish soups,
- bakes,
- vegetable mixes with fish,
- frozen meals,
- meals in MAP packaging,
- products intended for reheating in an oven or microwave.
Master Meat offers frozen cubes, portions, blocks, and fish mince to ready meal manufacturers, central kitchens, diet catering, and the foodservice sector, among others.
Salmon cubes or whole fillets – what to choose?
A whole fillet remains a good solution when the manufacturer needs large, irregular portions or prepares different raw material formats independently.
Ready-made cubes are more beneficial when the priorities are:
- a high number of repeatable portions,
- shorter preparation time,
- reduced manual work,
- simpler dosing,
- a lower level of waste,
- stable food cost,
- easier production scaling.
In many cases, the best solution is not to replace fillets completely, but to match the salmon form to the specific product. Fillet can be used in premium meals, while cubes can be used in serial production of salads, bowls, pasta, and ready meals.
How to carry out a production trial?
Before implementing a new raw material, it is worth conducting a trial on one recipe and one production shift.
During the test, the following should be assessed:
- raw material preparation time,
- ease of dosing,
- loss during heat treatment,
- the structure of the salmon after preparation,
- the appearance of the cubes in the final package,
- the number of correct portions,
- the total cost of one portion.
Such a test makes it possible to assess not only product quality, but also the actual impact of the cubes on the organisation of the plant’s work.
Fewer operations, greater production predictability
In ready meal production, the greatest savings often do not result from performing individual tasks faster, but from eliminating some of them completely.
Ready-made salmon cubes can reduce the need for filleting, trimming, sorting, and handling trimmings. They also make dosing easier and help maintain a repeatable product appearance.
Depending on the current technological process, this may mean shortening the raw material preparation stage by up to around 35%, lower staff involvement, and a more predictable cost of each portion produced.
Check salmon cubes in your recipe
Master Meat supplies frozen salmon cubes to ready meal manufacturers, catering, central kitchens, and food processing plants.
Contact us and provide the planned application, salmon gram weight per portion, and monthly demand. We will help you select the raw material format and prepare a trial for testing on your production line.