Seafood Seasoning
Seafood seasoning is a compound savoury blend formulated to give fish, shellfish or general marine character to a finished food. It is a mixture rather than a single ingredient, and its identity is defined by the profile it produces rather than by a fixed recipe.
Most formulations are built in three layers. A taste base of salt, monosodium glutamate, the nucleotides disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, and often disodium succinate provides the savoury foundation, succinate being included because it carries the specific shellfish note that glutamate alone does not. A natural layer of dried shrimp, scallop, fish or seaweed powder, along with extracts and hydrolysates of the same, supplies authenticity and body. An aroma layer of reaction and topping flavours restores the volatile notes that drying removes.
The product is normally a free-flowing powder or granule sold in bulk for industrial use and in sachets for retail and foodservice. Sensitivity to moisture is the main handling constraint, since the hygroscopic salt and glutamate base cakes readily and the marine components oxidise, so packing is in barrier film and storage is cool and dry.
We source bulk Seafood Seasoning from top China manufacturers for our partners, working with several of them. The manufacturers are in Zhejiang and Shandong. 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 | Free-flowing cream to light brown powder or granule |
| Odour and Flavour | Characteristic of the declared seafood profile, free from rancid notes |
| Moisture | Not more than 5.0 percent |
| Sodium Chloride | To declared formula, typically 30.0 to 60.0 percent |
| Monosodium Glutamate | To declared formula, or absent in clean label grades |
| Particle Size | 95 percent through 40 mesh, powder grade |
| Solubility | Disperses fully in water at 60 °C |
| Peroxide Value of Extracted Fat | Not more than 5.0 meq/kg |
| Cadmium | Not more than 0.5 mg/kg for crustacean containing grades |
| Lead | Not more than 2 mg/kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 10,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 500 cfu/g |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are defined by declared profile, by the proportion of genuine seafood material and by physical form. Blends built mainly on the taste base with flavourings are the low-cost industrial grades, while blends carrying a high proportion of dried shrimp, scallop or seaweed powder are labelled on that content and priced accordingly. Powder, granule and paste forms are used, granules being preferred where dusting and segregation during blending are a problem.
A second axis is the additive declaration, since clean label grades replace monosodium glutamate and added nucleotides with yeast extract, fermented seasoning and concentrated seafood extract, and declare each component individually. Allergen status is the third, and it is not optional for this category, because crustacean, mollusc and fish are all major allergens and a blend containing any of them must be declared and segregated in production. Blends designed to give marine character without allergenic material are built on seaweed, yeast extract and flavourings and are used where allergen-free labelling is required.
Applications
- Instant noodle seasoning sachets in seafood and shrimp profiles
- Soup and broth bases for foodservice and central kitchens
- Surimi products including imitation crab stick and fish cake
- Savoury snack seasoning, applied dry or through an oil slurry during tumbling
- Retorted and frozen ready meals in seafood formats
- Prepared sauces, dips and dressings such as seafood dipping condiments
- Marinades and coating systems for battered and fried fish
- Rice seasoning and furikake style dry toppings
- Steamed and fried dumpling fillings
- Pet food palatants for fish-flavour products
Brands Using Seafood Seasoning
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Seafood Seasoning on the ingredient label.
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Seafood Seasoning
Top Seafood Seasoning manufacturers in China.
- Weihai Puyuan Food Co., Ltd.4 ingredients in the directory
- Zhejiang Dingwei Food Co., Ltd.2 ingredients in the directory
- Zhejiang Weihai Food Ingredients Co., Ltd.1 ingredient 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
Compliance rests on the components. In the United States salt, spices and their extractives are covered by the generally recognised as safe listings, monosodium glutamate is affirmed as generally recognised as safe, and the nucleotide enhancers are permitted food ingredients, while dried seafood and its extracts are foods. Products containing fish or shellfish must declare them as major allergens, and imported seafood-containing ingredients fall under FDA seafood HACCP requirements.
In the European Union Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 authorises each additive in the taste base individually and gives it its own E number, glutamates and the ribonucleotides being the relevant groups, while flavourings fall under Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 and carry none. Seafood components are fishery products under the food hygiene package, so they must originate in approved establishments and travel with health certification, and crustacean, mollusc and fish allergen declaration is mandatory. Heavy metal limits for fishery products, particularly cadmium in crustaceans, apply to the incoming raw material. Codex maintains a general standard for food additives and codes of hygienic practice for fish and fishery products that cover both halves of the blend.
Manufacturing Process
The natural components are prepared first. Shrimp, scallop, fish and seaweed are cleaned, cooked where required, dried in tunnel or fluidised bed dryers and milled to powder, while extracts and hydrolysates are produced by water extraction and enzymatic digestion followed by vacuum concentration and spray drying. These arrive at the blending plant as dry, free-flowing intermediates.
Blending is a weighing and mixing operation in a ribbon or paddle mixer. Components are matched for particle size before mixing because a blend of fine powder and coarse granule will segregate in transport, and liquid flavours and oils are sprayed onto the moving bed so that they plate evenly rather than forming lumps. Where a granulated grade is wanted, the powder blend is agglomerated with a fine water or binder spray in a fluidised bed and dried back. The finished blend passes through a sieve and a metal detector, is checked for uniformity by assaying salt or another marker across several sample points, and is packed into moisture-barrier bags, often with the headspace flushed with nitrogen to protect the marine lipids from oxidation.
