Seafood Extract
Seafood extract is a savoury flavour base produced by cooking and concentrating fish, shellfish, crustacean or mollusc raw material, usually trimmings and cooking water from processing plants, into a liquid, paste or spray-dried powder. It belongs to the same product family as meat and yeast extracts and is bought for the flavour it carries rather than for a defined chemical composition.
The flavour derives from the free amino acid and nucleotide fraction that the cooking and any enzymatic step release. Glutamic acid provides umami, inosine monophosphate and adenosine monophosphate from the muscle amplify it synergistically, and glycine, alanine and proline supply the characteristic sweetness of prawn and crab. Species-specific volatiles, including bromophenols in marine fish and trimethylamine derivatives, give the marine top note, while taurine and betaines add body. Typical dry material runs 60 to 80 percent protein and peptides with 10 to 20 percent ash from sea salt.
Powdered extract is a hygroscopic tan to light brown solid that dissolves readily in hot water. It is heat stable in the ranges used for retorting and extrusion, though the volatile marine notes are lost on prolonged heating, which is why formulators add part of the dose late in a process.
We source bulk Seafood Extract from top China manufacturers for our partners, working with several of them. The manufacturers are in Guangdong, Shandong and 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
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Light tan to brown free-flowing powder with characteristic marine odour |
| Flavour | Clean savoury seafood profile, free from rancid or ammoniacal notes |
| Total nitrogen | 9.0 percent minimum |
| Amino nitrogen | 3.0 percent minimum |
| Protein and peptides (N x 6.25) | 55.0 percent minimum |
| Sodium chloride | 18.0 percent maximum |
| Loss on drying | 6.0 percent maximum |
| Total ash | 25.0 percent maximum |
| pH (1 percent aqueous solution) | 5.5 to 7.0 |
| Histamine | 50 mg/kg maximum |
| Lead | 1.0 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic (inorganic) | 0.5 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 10000 cfu/g maximum |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are described first by species and raw material: prawn, crab, scallop, oyster, clam, tuna, anchovy and mixed white fish are all traded, and within each, extracts from whole meat command a different position from extracts made on cooking water or shell. Physical forms are liquid at around 40 to 50 percent solids, paste at 60 to 80 percent solids and spray-dried powder, the last usually carrying maltodextrin or salt as a drying aid.
Beyond form, the trade distinguishes plain thermal extracts from enzymatically hydrolysed grades, which have a higher degree of hydrolysis, more free amino acids and a stronger but flatter savoury character, and from reaction-flavoured grades that have been taken through a Maillard step with sugar to build roasted notes. Salt content is a defining specification because much of the ash is added or inherent sea salt, and low-sodium grades are produced by desalting. Buyers also specify nucleotide content where the extract is bought for umami intensity, and allergen declaration is part of the grade description since crustacean, mollusc and fish are all listed allergens.
Applications
- Instant noodle seasoning sachets and soup bases, where the powder rehydrates into a marine broth
- Retort and canned soups, chowders and bisques as the flavour foundation
- Surimi and fish cake products, restoring the flavour lost when the muscle is washed
- Seafood-flavoured snack seasonings applied as a dry topical blend
- Sauces including oyster sauce, fish sauce blends and stir-fry bases
- Frozen ready meals and dumpling fillings requiring a heat-stable savoury note
- Pet food palatants, where hydrolysed fish extract drives acceptance
- Reaction flavour manufacture as the amino acid and nucleotide source for a Maillard step
- Umami enhancement in reduced-sodium formulations, where nucleotides let salt be cut
China Manufacturers of Seafood Extract
Top Seafood Extract manufacturers in China.
Guangdong ADD Flavor & Fragrance Co., Ltd.2 ingredients in the directory
Yantai Huahai Biochemical Product Co., Ltd.1 ingredient in the directory
Zhe Jiang Industrial Group Co., Ltd.12 ingredients in the directory
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 seafood extracts are food ingredients derived from conventional foods and are used as flavourings and flavour enhancers without a specific food additive regulation. Where the extract functions as a flavour, it falls under the general flavouring provisions and its components are commonly the subject of FEMA GRAS listings for individual substances. The rules that apply to manufacture are the seafood hazard analysis and critical control point requirements, which apply to fish and fishery products and cover histamine control in scombroid species, and the allergen labelling rules, since fish, crustacean shellfish and molluscan shellfish must all be declared.
In the European Union seafood extract is a food ingredient rather than an additive and has no E number, though where it is presented as a flavouring it is handled under the flavourings regulation as a preparation obtained from food. Fish, crustaceans and molluscs are listed allergens requiring emphasis in the ingredient list, and histamine limits apply to fishery products from species associated with high histidine. Codex has adopted standards and a code of practice for fish and fishery products that cover raw material handling and histamine control, and the general Codex provisions on contaminants, including limits for methylmercury and cadmium in fishery products, apply to the raw material stream.
Manufacturing Process
Raw material is received chilled or frozen as trimmings, heads, shell or whole small fish, and it is graded and washed before use because freshness at intake determines the amine content of the finished extract. The material is minced and cooked in water, either in a batch kettle or a continuous cooker, which coagulates and separates the protein and drives soluble flavour compounds into the liquor. Many plants add a controlled enzymatic hydrolysis step at this point, dosing a protease at its optimum temperature and pH to break the remaining protein into peptides and free amino acids, then inactivating the enzyme by heating.
The cooked mass is separated by decanter centrifuge and fine filtration into a solids fraction, an oil fraction that is skimmed and recovered, and a clarified stock. The stock is concentrated by multi-effect vacuum evaporation to a paste, with a membrane step used where salt has to be reduced or the peptide fraction separated by size. Where a roasted profile is wanted the concentrate is taken through a Maillard reaction with reducing sugar under controlled time and temperature. The finished concentrate is standardised for solids, salt and nitrogen, then spray dried with a carrier to a fine powder, sieved and packed in moisture barrier packaging.
