ICECO Fish specialises in salmon and herring products for the overseas and domestic markets Every effort goes into ensuring quality

ICECO Fish, a fish and seafood processing company, produces a range of products based on Norwegian salmon and herring that are exported to many parts of the world. It also has a range of products sold under its Zigmas brand that is well-known in Lithuania and the other Baltic States.

Lithuania hosts several companies that process sh and seafood for export markets. High quality, certi cation to international standards, proximity to raw material sources, salmon in particular, good logistics, and competitive labour costs are among the reasons that the volumes of sh and seafood processed in Lithuania have been increasing fairly steadily over the years. Among the companies that are contributing to this increase is ICECO Fish which, according to Lina Ruigiene, the Head of Sales, is one of the fastest-growing sh processing companies in the Baltic region. e company’s production activities date back to 1995 and today are broadly split into salmon, herring, and seafood and white sh. Sales of salmon products account for 70 of the total followed by herring with a fth.

e sh processing company is but one of the units in the ICECO Group. Other units include one that is responsible for self logistics and storage services as well as managing xed assets of the group. For delivery overseas the company uses external service providers or, in some cases, the client will organise the shipping. Another unit produces ice cream, and nally there is a trading unit which distributes both ICECO and other companies’ products, manages ICECO own retail shops and outsources production of some Zigmas branded products.

Salmon forms the bulk of production

Salmon is processed primarily into smoked products for export and salted products for the domestic market. A small fraction of the salmon is also frozen. Smoked products are both cold and hot smoked with a preponderance of the former. Other salmon products include marinated and dried, while cuts include llets, portions, and steaks. Like most continental salmon processors, ICECO Fish sources its sh in Norway, from where it arrives fresh on ice. e sh is not more than three days old from the time it is slaughtered and gutted, says Ms Ruigiene. On a typical day working a single 12-hour shift the company can process a truck of salmon or about 23 tonnes, though this depends on the orders received for the day. In summer the number of orders tends to go up and production is increased accordingly. Orders are received at least seven days in advance though there are some clients who plan campaigns in speci c periods and may place their order up to two months in advance. But seven days is the minimum we need to organise the raw material and negotiate all the terms and conditions, says Ms Ruigiene. Aidanas Simokaitis, Head of the Quality Department, explains that after the sh arrives it is headed, cleaned, and then machine lleted. e llets are trimmed manually, however. All the waste, heads, backbones, trimmings are collected and sold for conversion into animal feed. e llets themselves have the pinbones removed and are also skinned if the nal product calls for it.

Flexible and client-oriented manufacturing

e processing is tailored to the client’s requirements. Skin on or skin o , the salting method, the smoking time and temperature, and the packaging are all determined by the customer. Salting, for example, says Mr Simokaitis, can be dry salting, brine injection, or a combination of the two. e salt percentage and tenderness of the product is decided by the client and we follow those speci cations. After salting the llets are left to mature. However, the time to maturation is also decided by the client and can vary from 8 to 72 hours. Dry salting, for example, usually calls for a longer maturation period. If the nal product is a marinated llet a little sugar is added to the salt. Speci cations can come from the client, but the client may also ask the company to produce using the specications for one of ICECO’s own branded products. e important thing is that we use skilled workers and can easily adapt the production to the demands of the client, Mr Simokaitis emphasises. Our technologists are used to managing many di erent recipes and we can manufacture from a small pilot production to a whole truck or more. While the production process can be carefully controlled, the quality of the nal product is largely in uenced by the raw material. ICECO Fish has a long history of working with Norwegian suppliers and has identi ed the packing stations where they can secure raw material of a high and consistent quality, and maintains a list of suppliers they can contract to deliver this product. Furthermore, each batch of the raw material arriving at the factory is tested by the company’s technologists who remove 100 sh from the consignment and check the quality, including colour, blood spots, fat content, texture, freshness etc. Production starts only after the technologists sign o on the quality. Nine-tenths of the raw material comes from ASC or GlobalG.A.P. certi ed sources and some is even certi ed to both standards. e llets are smoked over beechwood chips and are subject to another round of cleaning and trimming where the brown meat is removed before being sliced and packaged in modi ed atmosphere (MAP) or vacuum. e lms can be different colours, thicknesses, and textures, and the trays too can be di erent colours. e company is also looking at more sustainable packaging as this is increasingly being demanded by clients. e nal product can be supplied chilled or frozen and the packaging whether laminate, sleeve or box can be printed on or have a label. For the domestic market ICECO Fish produces both under its own brand and for private label and supplies the largest retail chains in the Baltic. e retail chains are important buyers, but the company also sells its products to shmongers and the HoReCa sector. Clients often also decide the packaging speci cations and so the company has acquired the capacity to manufacture from 75 g packs and upwards.

According to Ms Ruigiene, the company is the leader on the domestic market by market share in the chilled processed sh category with the largest percentage share in smoked salmon.

Quality control is very strict

While product speci cations are often supplied by the client, they are developed inhouse as well, sometimes in collaboration with a customer. Technologists develop and test recipes not only for taste, texture, mouth feel, and appearance, but also for shelf life, and behaviour under storage. ICECO Fish draws on expertise from, for example, the Kaunas University of Technology where necessary when developing the product. Ideas for new products re ect consumer demand for snacks and for ready-to-eat products that can be eaten straight from the packaging with minimal or even no preparation required. ese too will be subject to stringent quality control when they enter commercial production. Mr Simokaitis’ department tastes samples from production batches on a regular basis to check the quality. If necessary, samples are sent to be tested in laboratories abroad. Even after the product is available for sale at the supermarket, samples are taken from the shelves to monitor how they are doing under those conditions. is also applies to the herring products the company manufactures which are usually marinated or salted llets but can also be combined with spices, sauce and other condiments such as vegetables, seaweed, beans and even mixed together to create ready-to-eat meals and snacks. Some herring recipes go back 50 years and are highly sought after

Herring products are consumed on the domestic market but also in countries with sizeable numbers of people of Eastern European origin who tend to be familiar with the taste.

Hot smoked eel with an Asian flavour wins plaudits

Seafood Expo Global Excellence Awards 2023 Finalist

ICECO’s Hot smoked European eel in soyginger sauce sold under the company’s Zigmas Fine Cut brand was a finalist at this year’s Seafood Expo Global Excellence Awards competition in Barcelona. The eel is sourced from the Netherlands and is smoked using beechwood chips at our factory in Marijampole, then flavoured with soy-ginger sauce and topped with sesame seeds, says Lina Ruigiene, the Head of Sales. It can be eaten alone, as a snack, or as a dish with condiments. Ms Ruigiene was naturally a bit dissatisfied that the product did not win but it got a lot of publicity and attracted visitors to the company stand at SEG who were keen to taste it. The skin packaging, tray, and label also won a number of compliments. The product is not yet for sale, however, for the idea was to gauge public response before committing to producing it. We now have an idea of the demand and will take a decision on whether to go further, she adds.

by customers. While herring products are mainly intended for the domestic market, they are also exported mainly to countries that host communities from Central and Eastern Europe, as they know and appreciate the product.

Energy price hikes mitigated with solar panel installations

Increases in energy prices and general in ation a ected ICECO Fish in 2022, but it was worse in some months than in others. e end of year results, Ms Ruigiene notes, were more or less in line with the budget as the prices of both raw materials and energy

ICECO Fish

Factory and HQ: Ledo g. 1, Liepynai, Marijampoles sav., Lithuania

Administrative office: Karaliaus Mindaugo ave. 35, LT-44307 Kaunas, Lithuania

Tel: +370 343 92745 info@icecofish.com icecofish.com

Head of Sales: Lina Ruigiene Head of Quality Department: Aidanas Simokaitis stabilized. e new salmon tax in Norway that is due to be imposed shortly adds some uncertainty regarding raw material prices. e hike in energy prices did nudge the company into making a major investment in solar panels in 2022, so that now all the buildings are covered by solar cells. e investment was supported by the government and some 20 of the company’s energy requirement is met from these panels. Other planned energy saving initiatives include a wind turbine and the recycling of heat generated by refrigeration and freezing equipment. e focus on sustainability is bound to stand the company in good stead in the years to come.

Activity: Salmon, herring, whitefish and seafood processing

Products: Smoked, marinated, salted salmon; marinated, salted herring

Product forms: Chilled, frozen

Packaging: MAP, vacuum, bag, skin, plastic box, buckets, jars

Brand: Zigmas

Export share of production: 75%

Customers: Retail chains on international and domestic markets

Certifications: IFS, GLOBALG.A.P., ASC, MSC, EURO EKO