Frozen Alaska Pollock Supplier: Fillets, Blocks, Mince and Portions

Product overview

Alaska pollock is the workhorse whitefish behind coated portions, fish fingers, fish-and-chip menus and much of the world’s surimi. Its appeal is consistency rather than distinction: lean, mild white flesh with a fine flake that carries batter, crumb and sauce without competing with them, and a supply base large enough to run programs all year. Pollock is not a Thai catch, so we do not process it here. We source it from partner packers working the North Pacific fisheries and state the harvest and processing details on every offer, so that a buyer knows exactly which supply chain a carton came through.

The species is Gadus chalcogrammus, a member of the cod family that older documents still list as Theragra chalcogramma. Commercial volume comes from the US fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska and from the Russian fisheries in the Sea of Okhotsk and western Bering Sea, mostly taken by midwater trawl. The US Bering Sea fishery runs a winter A season, when roe-bearing fish are targeted, and a summer-to-autumn B season, and flesh condition differs between the two. Each pollock offer names the fishing area, vessel flag and processing plant, and because several markets restrict Russian-origin seafood, at times even after filleting in a third country, harvest origin is checked against your destination before we quote.

Freezing history is the first point to settle. Single-frozen pollock is filleted and frozen once, at sea on factory trawlers or at shore plants near the grounds; twice-frozen pollock is frozen headed and gutted, then thawed, filleted and refrozen in an Asian processing country, which lowers cost but usually gives a softer texture and more drip. Formats include skinless, boneless fillet blocks in the standard 7.5 kg (16.5 lb) size for sawing into portions, mince blocks for formed products, deep-skinned fillets with the gray layer under the skin removed, IQF fillets graded 2⁠–⁠4, 4⁠–⁠6, 6⁠–⁠8 and 8 oz and up, and portions cut to your weight and shape. Where a packer adds phosphate to limit drip, it is declared on the specification.

Block buyers judge pollock by how it saws as much as by how it tastes: dimensional tolerance, flat faces, voids and air pockets, and the share of mince in a fillet block all decide portion yield on the line. Fillet inspection covers pin bones, parasites visible on candling, blood spots and bruising, gaping, color and glaze. The fish goes into fish fingers and fish sticks, breaded portions for schools and quick-service chains, ready meals and filled pastries, and pollock skin from the same plants is offered under fish skin. For the long haul from North Pacific plants, our reefer and cold chain guide covers what to agree with the carrier.