Fish Fingers and Fish Sticks Cut from Pollock and Pangasius Blocks

Product overview

Fish fingers are among the most tightly engineered products in the frozen fish aisle. Each piece starts as a rectangle sawn from a frozen fish block, so weight, length and fish content can be held within narrow limits from one carton to the next, and that consistency is what retail own-brand ranges, school caterers and quick-service menus are paying for. British and Irish buyers say fish fingers and North American buyers usually say fish sticks; the product is the same in principle, though portion sizes and crumb styles differ between markets.

The fish comes from rectangular frozen blocks, most often of Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) from North Pacific fisheries or of farmed pangasius (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), and other whitefish blocks can be considered on request. Blocks are made either from whole fillets or from minced fish, and the two behave differently: fillet-block fingers break into natural flakes, while mince-block fingers are softer, more uniform and lower in cost. We name the species, the block type and the share of fish in the finished piece on every offer, because those three facts decide where a product can sit in a range.

On the line, frozen blocks are sawn into fingers and passed through a predust and a batter, then covered in golden crumb, panko-style crumb or seasoned crumb, or left in a crisp batter alone. Most fingers are then par-fried for a moment to fix the coating and refrozen, which leaves the fish raw at the center and means the end user must cook them through; fully cooked fingers for reheat-only kitchens are made where a buyer specifies a validated cook. Before shipment we check piece weight and dimensions, fish content by removing the coating from weighed samples, bones, coverage and bare edges, oil uptake and color in a test fry. Mini bites cut from the same blocks give smaller pieces for snacking and children’s plates, and formed fish cakes can be produced on request.

Retail boxes of 250 g, 450 g and 750 g suit supermarket freezer ranges, while 1 kg and 3 kg bags and 5 kg or 10 kg cartons serve caterers, school meals and quick-service kitchens. Under our private-label program, buyers set crumb color, seasoning, finger count per box and the printed oven and fryer instructions, and fish fingers can share a reefer with breaded and tempura shrimp to build a first container. The reefer and Incoterms guide covers the cold-chain points that keep coated products crisp and intact in transit.