A fish head cutting machine for decapitating a fish, comprising: a) a fish support for supporting a fish in an infeed loading zone with its belly side down and its backbone in a substantially horizontal orientation; b) a guide mechanism positioned adjacent the fish support to hold the fish via an anatomical body part, such as its gill plate, collar bone, pectoral fin or pelvic fin, so that only the body of the fish is supported by the fish support; c) a drive mechanism transporting the fish in a downward direction and at an acute angle to vertical from the infeed loading zone downstream to a head cutting zone while the fish is supported on the fish support and held by the guide mechanism; d) a head pusher located between the infeed loading zone and the head cutting zone that engages the head of the fish and tips the head of the fish upwardly and rearwardly as the fish moves downstream to the head cutting zone; and e) head cutting blades located downstream of the head pusher in the cutting zone that cut the head of the fish from the body of the fish.

The present invention relates to an improved method and a device for mechanically filleting and removing pin-bones from gutted fish using conventional filleting devices, where the fish rests on a saddle on a conveyor using pairs of circular knives to separate the fillet from the backbone. The apparatus and method are designed to facilitate mechanical filleting and pin-bone removal of gutted fish with the head intact. The present invention provides a more accurate method of positioning the pin-bones in the gutted fish.

A revolutionized tuna process according to this invention generally comprising the steps of thawing of frozen tuna, de-heading and degutting, fileting, de-skinning, cleaning of the de-skinned tuna filet, pre-cooking, cooling, packing of the cleaned and pre-cooked tuna loin, and sterilizing the packed tuna loin or freezing the tuna loin. Not only does the process according to this invention reduces the energy utilization by half, it also significantly reduces the time required for cooking and cooling. Therefore, the whole processing time is significantly reduced from at least 8.0 hours in the conventional process to less than 30 minutes.

A method for ecological utilization of silver carp, including the pretreatment of silver carp and the process of making canned fish surimi. The fish meat of silver carp is processed canned surimi. The fish heads and bones are heated and undergo enzymatic hydrolysis by enzymes, and the residues of the filtration are prepared for fish bone powder. A filtration membrane is used to reduce the volume of the filtrate to 50% of fish surimi and then the filtrate is frozen to ice. The frozen part can be added to fish surimi. The transparent part from membrane filtration was used to produce protein powder or ingredients for beverages. Fish offal can be used to produce protein liquid fertilizer. Fish scales and skins can be used to produce collagen. The method adopts ecological utilization, which makes the silver carp meat used effectively, including its processed wastes. The method is a closed cycle process such that that no pollutants or wastes are discharged during the process.

A fish decapitating apparatus includes a fish holder configured to receive a fish with the belly side facing up at an in-feed station, a cutting station and a conveying apparatus configured to convey the fish in the fish holder from the in-feed station to the cutting station. The fish holder includes opposingly arranged guide members moveable in a hinge like manner. The guide members are configured to clamp the fish behind the collar bones such that the collar bones rest on an outer side of the guide members in the clamped state with the fish head sticking out from the fish holder. The fish decapitating apparatus includes a measuring device configured to measure the position of the collar bones when in the clamped position, and a control unit configured to automatically adjust the position of the cutting station during cutting in accordance with the measured position of the collar bones.

A fish head cutting machine for decapitating a fish, comprising: a) a fish support for supporting a fish in an infeed loading zone with its belly side down and its backbone in a substantially horizontal orientation; b) a guide mechanism positioned adjacent the fish support to hold the fish via an anatomical body part, such as its gill plate, collar bone, pectoral fin or pelvic fin, so that only the body of the fish is supported by the fish support; c) a drive mechanism transporting the fish in a downward direction and at an acute angle to vertical from the infeed loading zone downstream to a head cutting zone while the fish is supported on the fish support and held by the guide mechanism; d) a head pusher located between the infeed loading zone and the head cutting zone that engages the head of the fish and tips the head of the fish upwardly and rearwardly as the fish moves downstream to the head cutting zone; and e) head cutting blades located downstream of the head pusher in the cutting zone that cut the head of the fish from the body of the fish.

A fish decapitating apparatus includes a fish holder configured to receive a fish with the belly side facing up at an in-feed station, a cutting station and a conveying apparatus configured to convey the fish in the fish holder from the in-feed station to the cutting station. The fish holder includes opposingly arranged guide members moveable in a hinge like manner. The guide members are configured to clamp the fish behind the collar bones such that the collar bones rest on an outer side of the guide members in the clamped state with the fish head sticking out from the fish holder. The fish decapitating apparatus includes a measuring device configured to measure the position of the collar bones when in the clamped position, and a control unit configured to automatically adjust the position of the cutting station during cutting in accordance with the measured position of the collar bones.

A fish processing system includes a measurement sensor configured to measure a distance across a head of a fish as the fish moves along a conveyor. A drive mechanism provides movement of a blade across a transport path of the fish along the conveyor in response to the determined distance to accurately sever the head of the fish based on the size of the fish. The system may also include a detection sensor for closing a wall of a trough to reject fish with heads that are not properly removed by the blade as well as an adjustment cylinder to vary a position of a conveyor relative to a fish processing subsystem to avoid jamming. Related methods for severing a portion of each fish in a series of transported fish based on the size of each fish are also provided.

A method for ecological utilization of silver carp, including the pretreatment of silver carp and the process of making canned fish surimi. The fish meat of silver carp is processed canned surimi. The fish heads and bones are heated and undergo enzymatic hydrolysis by enzymes, and the residues of the filtration are prepared for fish bone powder. A filtration membrane is used to reduce the volume of the filtrate to 50% of fish surimi and then the filtrate is frozen to ice. The frozen part can be added to fish surimi. The transparent part from membrane filtration was used to produce protein powder or ingredients for beverages. Fish offal can be used to produce protein liquid fertilizer. Fish scales and skins can be used to produce collagen. The method adopts ecological utilization, which makes the silver carp meat used effectively, including its processed wastes. The method is a closed cycle process such that that no pollutants or wastes are discharged during the process.

A revolutionized tuna process according to this invention generally comprising the steps of thawing of frozen tuna, de-heading and degutting, fileting, de-skinning, cleaning of the de-skinned tuna filet, pre-cooking, cooling, packing of the cleaned and pre-cooked tuna loin, and sterilizing the packed tuna loin or freezing the tuna loin. Not only does the process according to this invention reduces the energy utilization by half, it also significantly reduces the time required for cooking and cooling. Therefore, the whole processing time is significantly reduced from at least 8.0 hours in the conventional process to less than 30 minutes.