Frozen Milkfish Supplier: Whole, Boneless Butterfly and Belly

Product overview

Milkfish is widely regarded as the national fish of the Philippines, where it is called bangus, and it is just as central to Indonesian cooking as bandeng and to Taiwanese cooking as sabahi. Its frozen export trade serves Filipino, Indonesian and Taiwanese communities abroad, notably in the Middle East, North America and the Pacific. What defines the trade is bones: a milkfish carries a great many fine intermuscular bones, so how the fish has been deboned matters to buyers more than almost any other point in the specification.

Chanos chanos is the only living species in its family, a silvery, torpedo-shaped fish farmed in brackish ponds, pens and sea cages across South-East Asia from hatchery-produced or wild-collected fry. The Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan are the main producing and processing origins, so we source through partner packers in those countries and state the country, farming system and plant on every lot. Taste can vary with the farming system, since pond-reared fish can pick up an algal or earthy note, and many buyers therefore name pond, pen or cage fish in their brief.

Whole round fish are graded by weight, from 200⁠–⁠300 g up to 600 g and above, or by pieces per kilogram, as is common in Philippine trade. Boneless milkfish is butterflied along the back, opened flat and has its intermuscular bones pulled out one by one by trained deboners using tweezers, a labor-intensive step that explains much of its price over whole fish. Belly cuts take the rich, fatty belly flap, the most prized part of the fish, trimmed and usually deboned. Whole fish can also be gutted or headed and gutted, and marinated or smoked boneless milkfish can be quoted on request. Milkfish is blast-frozen, then vacuum-packed piece by piece or glazed.

Residual bones are the first point to settle for boneless product: the packer’s deboning tolerance can be written into the order, and a count of the bones left in thawed sample fish can be arranged. Milkfish is an oily fish, so rancid odor, yellowing of the belly fat and freezer burn are the next points to check, and a cooked taste test for algal taint can be added on request. Most volume goes to Filipino and Indonesian grocers, catering kitchens and restaurants for dishes such as daing na bangus, sinigang and grilled stuffed milkfish. Buyers building a broader frozen fish range for the same shoppers often add frozen tilapia, and our guide to choosing seafood for restaurants and retail suggests how to trial a new supplier against an existing one.