This article is part of a series that will uncover the secrets of the food processing industry and share with you the secrets of how your favorite food is made.

The first article in this series begins with the humble fish stick. A childhood treat and grown-up favourite, whether on a plate with peas and chips or between slices of white bread. BUT it is always served with tomato sauce.

Fish

The first component is the Fish, this is a frozen block approximately 2 feet by 1 foot by 3 inches. It’s made from lean fish (cheaper end of the market) and tends to be all the leftover fish bits. Or it can be made with whole fillets that are layered on top of each other (the pricier end of the market).

To be nutritionally honest, there isn’t much of a difference between the two. The type of fish can be COD for the expensive end or pollock for the cheaper sticks. These blocks are made within a few hours of disembarking from the ship, which means that the fish is about 6 hours old when frozen.

making the stick

Using a food processing band saw, skilled operators cut the block into slabs and then cut it back into fingers. The more expensive – the thicker the finger, the cheaper – the thinner. A typical good fish stick will be around 1 cm thick, while the cheapest may be 0.5 cm. These sticks are then separated and go to the coating stage.

Add the breadcrumbs

Similar to what you see in restaurants or TV shows, the fish is covered in batter and then breadcrumbs. BUT this is really where the cheapness adds up. If you buy cheap fish sticks, they will add a layer of water, a layer of flour, a layer of dough, a layer of crumb. In the trade, this is called 4 passes and can add up to 70% breadcrumbs to the stick. This type can often be identified because it is very crispy and has almost no fish in it. Higher-end fish sticks will have a 3-step system and often have around 60% fish content.

So in your 300g pack of fish sticks you could have 90g of fish (cheap) or 210g (expensive)

All this process is carried out through a food processing production line of automatic coating machines. Typically, one line can produce 100 to 200 fish sticks per minute.

frying time

Up to this point the fish stick is quite healthy and almost without fat… However the stick goes through an industrial fryer that has hot oil. This makes the coating crispier, this is because the water in the coating is replaced with very hot oil. Usually all the water in the coating is replaced with grease.

This means that the more coating, the more fat, now food processors often use vegetable oil or rapeseed oil. None of which have saturated fat.

Frozen and smells like freezer

Within 30 minutes of frying, the product has been frozen and bundled and then placed in the food processing packaging machine before shipping to stores.

Considering the speed of the fish freezing process and the canning process, you can’t make a fish stick fresher even if you try.

Final Verdict

Fish Sticks or fish sticks, compared to other battered products such as chicken strips, are healthier, fresher and have fewer additives. So I would definitely put fish sticks before other coated products.

If I am choosing a fish stick, try to get one that is high in fish content, this is usually listed as a % in the ingredient statement. This often means that it is made with whole fish, not lean, and has a lower fat content.

The type of fish doesn’t really matter, some will say a cod stick is best, but let’s be honest, we’ll dip it in Ketchup. Once you’ve done that, I doubt you’ll be able to tell the difference, except your wallet is a little less full.

Every week I plan to reveal how everyday food products are made.