Fresh fish taste, in a packet

SOME PEOPLE ARE put off cooking fresh fish by its smell and feel, but help is at hand thanks to a smart new way of packing fresh fish, from Keohane’s of Bantry.

Michael Keohane, who has spent a lifetime in the fish business, recently teamed up with his fish restaurateur son, Coleman, to launch a range of fresh fish that can be put in a microwave “as is” and cooked in less than three minutes. Fish products for microwaves are normally frozen.

The secret to cooking fresh fish is a new type of high-performance oxygen-barrier vacuum packaging which applies two films to the vacuum “skin pack”. This allows the pack to be attractively labelled and presented, with the product fully visible to the consumer through transparent film. But most crucially, the film does not have to be removed or pierced before cooking, meaning the food is effectively steam-cooked and all smells contained within the pack until it is opened immediately prior to serving.

The new skin-pack technology was developed in Germany for use with vegetables. Keohane spent a year working with Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s development centre in Clonakilty to devise a way of applying it to fresh fish. The new packaging is also “greener” because skin packing reduces the overall height of the pack, which in turn means lower transports costs.

“The normal shelf life for fresh fish is four days. With this packaging it’s eight and the product looks better,” says Keohane says. “I knew the packaging was out there but applying it to a fresh fish product was the real challenge. We started with two products, salmon darnes and tiger prawns, and we will be extending the range this summer. The big attraction for consumers is that there is no fishy smell when cooking and they don’t have to touch it. It literally goes from the pack to the plate.”

Keohane has invested in the region of €500,000 in the project to build a production facility near Cork city. Production began last January and the products are now listed in SuperValu, Centra and Dunnes. The company employs 13 people and Keohane says a further investment of €300,000 is slated for this year.