Anchovy Fish Meal
Anchovy fish meal is a dry protein concentrate made by cooking, pressing, drying and milling whole anchovy, principally species of the genus Engraulis. It is a brown, coarse to fine powder with a strong marine odour, and in flavour work it is valued less as a bulk protein than as a concentrated source of free amino acids, nucleotides and small peptides that carry savoury and umami character.
Typical composition is 62 to 68 percent crude protein, 8 to 12 percent oil and 8 to 10 percent moisture, with the balance ash and salt. The material is not water soluble; it disperses as a suspension and is normally extracted, hydrolysed or cooked out rather than dosed directly into a finished liquid. Protein quality and aroma both degrade if the meal is dried too hard, so drying temperature is the main quality variable separating a flavour raw material from a commodity feed meal.
Oxidation of the residual fish oil is the principal stability risk, and meal intended for storage or shipment is normally stabilised with an added antioxidant.
We source bulk Anchovy Fish Meal from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Zhejiang. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
or call +86-21-6858 0751
- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Light to medium brown free flowing meal, characteristic marine odour |
| Crude protein, as is | 65 percent minimum |
| Crude fat | 10 percent maximum |
| Moisture | 10 percent maximum |
| Total ash | 16 percent maximum |
| Salt, as sodium chloride | 3 percent maximum |
| Sand and silica | 2 percent maximum |
| Total volatile basic nitrogen | 120 mg per 100 g maximum |
| Histamine | 500 mg per kg maximum |
| Free fatty acids, on oil | 10 percent maximum |
| Pepsin digestibility | 92 percent minimum |
| Lead | Not more than 5 mg per kg |
| Arsenic, inorganic | Not more than 2 mg per kg |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The main commercial split is between steam dried and flame dried meal. Steam dried meal, often traded as prime or super prime, is processed at lower temperature and retains higher protein digestibility, lighter colour and a cleaner aroma; it is the grade used where the meal feeds a flavour or hydrolysate process. Flame dried meal is cheaper, darker and more heat damaged, and is a feed material. Low temperature, low ash variants are sold where a light coloured extract is wanted.
Grades are specified on crude protein, usually 62, 65 or 67 percent minimum, together with limits on total volatile basic nitrogen and histamine that reflect the freshness of the raw fish at landing. Particle size runs from a coarse meal for extraction to a fine milled powder for dry seasoning blends. Meal destined for human food must be produced from food grade raw material under seafood hygiene controls, and buyers should treat feed grade and food grade material as separate products.
Applications
- Savoury flavour bases, as the feedstock for enzymatic fish protein hydrolysates that supply umami and marine notes
- Reaction flavour systems, where its free amino acids and reducing sugars generate cooked seafood aromas under controlled heating
- Instant noodle and soup seasoning powders, where a small addition gives depth behind a vegetable or meat profile
- Dried seafood seasoning blends and dashi style stock powders
- Fish sauce and anchovy extract manufacture, as a supplement to salted whole fish
- Pet food palatants, where hydrolysed anchovy meal drives feed acceptance in cats
- Aquaculture feed for marine carnivorous species, as the reference protein and a source of long chain omega three fatty acids
- Starter and weaning feeds for poultry and swine, where digestibility and amino acid balance matter more than cost
- Fertiliser and soil amendment blends made from off specification lots
China Manufacturers of Anchovy Fish Meal
Top Anchovy Fish Meal manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States, fish meal used in animal feed is subject to FDA Centre for Veterinary Medicine oversight and to the ingredient definitions maintained by AAFCO, with ethoxyquin or other permitted antioxidants used under the applicable feed additive rules. Anchovy meal or extract intended for human food must be produced from fish handled under the seafood HACCP regulation at 21 CFR Part 123, and the finished flavouring must be composed of substances that are GRAS or otherwise permitted for food use; histamine control is a specific FDA concern for scombroid and small pelagic species handled warm.
In the European Union, feed grade fish meal falls under the animal by-products framework in Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 and the feed hygiene and undesirable substances rules, with plants requiring approval and listing for import. Material for human consumption is instead covered by the food hygiene package, including Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 for products of animal origin. Codex Alimentarius maintains standards and a code of practice for fish and fishery products that set the reference framework for histamine control and hygienic handling.
Manufacturing Process
Landed anchovy is chilled and held in refrigerated seawater, then conveyed to a continuous indirect steam cooker that raises the fish to around 90 to 95 degrees Celsius. Cooking coagulates the protein and ruptures the fat cells so that oil and water can be separated mechanically. The cooked mass passes to a twin screw press, which expels a press liquor and leaves a press cake of roughly half moisture.
The press liquor is decanted and centrifuged to recover crude fish oil, and the remaining stickwater is concentrated in a multiple effect evaporator to a fish soluble syrup, which is normally added back onto the press cake so the meal captures the soluble nitrogen. The recombined cake is dried, either in a steam heated disc or rotary drier for the higher grades or in a direct fired drier for commodity material, until moisture reaches 8 to 10 percent. Dried meal is milled, screened, dosed with an antioxidant, cooled and cured before bagging or bulk loading.
