This is the ice, a natural element granting the conservation of fish.
Good, prolongued, inhaltered conservation is made possible by ice.
Originally a process occurring only in nature, nowadays ice for the human use is mainly produced by ice-machines.
The Four T's
There is a variety of modern machinery and equipment differing mainly on the following characteristics of the ice produced:
- temperature
- transparency
- the quantity
- time needed
These are “The Four T’s”, the base of all rules in the ice business.
| Pict 1 - Old ice (vintage) |
| Pict 2 - Modern ice |
The best ice for fish-conservation is the combination of the following features:
- temperature below 0°C
- great transparency
- large quantity
- prepared in a short time
Depending on outside temperature and sunlight an additional refrigeration equipment may be needed to keep ice cold.
We could say "The colder the ice the colder the fish", but this won't be fairly true: you must keep the fish cold, but not freezing.
Table 2 - Evaluation of ice necessity in fish conservation
(FISH quantity intended as 1/2 ICE)
Table 3 - Ice transparency and iceing speed
(TIME elapsed in a 20° to 0° colding process)
How long could we store a fish and keep calling it "fresh"?
We have compared our results with those of other Ice-Based Fish-Conservation Labs. At the present time we cannot write the final answer.