Food products from fish waste

Burger. Embotido. Biscuits. Canned milkfish bone meal with sea vegetables. Quekiam. Nuggets. Calderata.

These are other food products developed out of offal (fish wastes) by Dr. Laurentina Paler-Calmorin, dean of the College of Fisheries and Allied Sciences of the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College (HIPSIC) in Estancia, Iloilo.

Dr. Calmorin has over the years been whipping up food items out of parts of marine species that used to be thrown away.

R&D Notes first featured her years back for having turned milkfish bones (tinik) into polvoron. Since then, her technology has been adopted by some community groups, particularly those of rural housewives.

Her novel products have won for her awards given by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (DOST-PCAMRD) (2000) and the DOST-National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) (2004).

"I also have a utility model patent on ‘Process of Producing Fish Value-added Products from Offal of Boneless Milkfish’ issued on Dec. 5, 2005 by the Intellectual Property Office, Bureau of Patents, Makati City," Dr. Calmorin proudly wrote us recently.

Recently, too, R&D NOTES featured her luncheon meat developed from bones and tails of milkfish and goatfish (bisugo).

In one of her latest ventures, she studied bone meal burger with banana blossoms and another without banana blossoms. The initial finding: "Milkfish bone meal burger is very much acceptable, salable, profitable, and nutritious."

Dr. Calmorin also researched on milkfish bone meal as offal of boneless bangus used in making embotido.

Said to be the first of its kind here and abroad, the study turned out encouraging results, prompting her to recommend the pursuit of income-generating projects on milkfish bone meal embotido in schools to develop students’ skills and train them to earn while studying.

Local governments and nongovernment organizations should also help finance livelihood projects along this line.

Biscuits can also be made out of shrimp shell and milkfish and goatfish bone meal, as born by Dr. Calmorin’s study.

The product’s flavor, color, odor, texture, and general acceptability fared well in the taste tests.

"The shelf life of milkfish and goatfish biscuits stored at room temperature was one month," she reported.

In another study, the NIPSC scientist found that canned milkfish bone meal with sea vegetable (Eucheuma, Sargassum, Gracilaria, and Halymenia) were "liked very much" by 30 panelists.

Dr. Calmorin further reported that the quality attributes of milkfish bone meal quekiam was "very much acceptable" when evaluated by 40 panelists.

Thus, she recommended that studies on fish quekiam from offal of goatfish tapa, boneless siganid, canned sardines, canned mackerel, and canned tuna also be conducted.

Milkfish bone meal nuggets and caldereta are also acceptable, reported Dr. Calmorin, who is now fondly called "Queen of Wastes" by her peers and colleagues. – RAF