Sri Lanka exported its first batch of low-salt, dried fish and fish chips to Korea and Australia, the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry has said.
“There is a high probability of pollutants being added in the traditional dry fish processing. More salt is used in the process. But for the first time, there is no space for even a little dust or a fly to enter in the production process, which is being done using air condition dehydration systems,” Minister Mahinda Amaraweera was quoted as saying in a statement by the Government Department of Information.
“With this method, we can present dried fish products that is very suitable for human consumption to the market. This will give us the foreign exchange that the country needs.”
In the traditional production method, fish is dried on the beach in the sun. In the new method, the fish, usually a type of tuna, is dried, or processed, using ‘air condition dehydration’.
As this method retains the fish oils, the quality of dried fish produced is of a higher level, Amaraweera said.
Amaraweera pointed out this dehydration method can be used for several other products in the country.
