Did Pollock Transform into a Snack? The 'National Fish' Challenging the Title of 'National Snack'

Professor Jo Seungmok of Pukyong National University Transfers Technology to SMEs... Launches Snack with an Impressive 54% Pollock Content

Professor Jo Seungmok of Pukyong National University (third from the left) and the research team are giving a thumbs-up in front of the pollock snack products.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Pollock, known as the "national fish" with various edible forms such as frozen pollock, fresh pollock, and dried pollock, has now taken on a new challenge as a snack product in a bag.

A technology for manufacturing pollock snacks developed by a university professor has been transferred to a small and medium-sized enterprise, which has launched the product aiming to claim the title of "national snack."

The pollock snack product is "Badasori Fish Pop," released by the seafood SME Sunhae Fisheries Co., Ltd. (CEO Shim Ui-heon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province).

The project, "Development and Commercialization of Traditional Seafood Processed Foods Considering Regional Characteristics," was undertaken by the research team led by Professor Cho Seung-mok (Department of Food Engineering) at Pukyong National University, funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The outcome of this project is the "pollock snack." Since its full launch in February, reviews have been spreading on social media, gaining word-of-mouth popularity.

The product, available in three flavors?kimchi, cheese, and consomme?was designed as a nutritious snack with high nutrition and a savory taste.

What draws attention to this snack is that the pollock content, the main ingredient, reaches a remarkable 54%, making it a high-protein product.

Considering that a shrimp snack currently on the market contains only 8.5% shrimp, this is a very high proportion.

With such a high pollock content, is there a fishy smell? There is no fishy taste, and the texture is not like dried fish or dried filefish but has the advantage of a crispy snack texture familiar to our palate.

Professor Cho said, "Unlike other snacks, we used rice flour instead of wheat flour or starch and applied a technology to create a double-layer structure that achieves a crispy texture."

Professor Cho is an expert in seafood processing and food chemistry, conducting customized research on health functional foods, development and commercialization of seafood processed foods, and functional materialization of useful components derived from seafood.

He stated, "Seafood still holds a relatively low share in the snack market compared to agricultural products. Following this research, which presented the possibility of developing premium applied products using fish, we plan to continue various studies utilizing seafood."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.