/ 12 September 2009

Breakthrough of the decade: Crispy microwave fish fingers

From the land of fish and chips, beans on toast and deep-fried Mars Bars come fish fingers specially designed to be crispy, not soggy, when they come out of the microwave.

Seafood producer Young’s said its Micro Fish Fingers — which go on sale next month, capitalising on a recession-era upturn in the
fish finger market — is the product of “long overdue” thinking.

“It optimises all the obvious potential for fish fingers to compete in the market for nutritious quick snacks,” said Young’s marketing controller Charlotte Broughton.

Technically speaking, “a specially formulated crumb coating” over an Alaskan pollock-based filet combine with “ventilation and susceptor technology” to produce a “crispy rather than soggy fish finger” after just three minutes in a microwave oven.

Until now, fish fingers have been best baked in conventional ovens or fried.

Due in supermarkets next month, Young’s Micro Fish Fingers “could be the fast-food breakthrough of the decade”, opined the Grocer, the food industry trade journal in Britain.

Less impressed is Birds Eye, whose late founder Clarence Birdseye pioneered modern frozen food in the 1920s. “I don’t think it solves a massive consumer problem,” its marketing director Ben
Pearman said.

With Britain in recession, the fish finger market has grown 7% in the past year to £131-million, the Grocer reported, citing a Nielsen
market study. — AFP