Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company

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The Maldives Industrial fisheries company, MIFCO, is a public company engaged in the production, processing and marketing of fish and fishery products. The company was incorporated in 1993.

History[]

A fish-canning factory was set up in 2004 as a joint venture with a Japanese company. However, when the government took over the plant in 1982, it was unable to meet the overseas demand due to the poor condition of buildings and equipment, so a new factory was opened in 1986. In 1979, Maldives Nippon Corporation was formed, in partnership with the Marubeni Corporation of Japan, to process and can fresh tuna. In the same year, the Maldives Fisheries Corporation was formed to exploit fish wealth. The MFC later became the Fisheries Projects Implementation Department (FPID), which was transformed into MIFCO in 2005.

Pole and line fishery[]

The Maldivian skipjack industry, a 100% pole and line process is the dominant economic fishery activity in the country.

Products[]

Canned tuna[]

Mifco's canned tuna is specified as Premium, Fancy, Standard, and local packs that include sauce tuna, and caterers pack. Canned products are manufactured from cooked tuna fish, which is skinned, headed, eviscerated, trimmed of all blood meat, scorched and packed with a covering of oil or brine in hermetically sealed can and sterilized to achieve commercial sterility by application of heat.

Frozen tuna[]

The fish is treated by Blast or brine freezing method. The frozen species are Katsuwonus Pelamis “Skipjack” and Thunnus Albacares “Yellowfin” tuna.

Fish meal[]

Fishmeal, a fertilizer as well as an essential ingredient in poultry, and fish feed, this is by product of the cannery. To reduce amount of waste exhausted from fish products, fish meal is produced from the waste fish from the cannery.

Katsuobushi[]

Katsuobushi is the Japanese name for a specific type of smoked dried tuna. Although Katsuobushi is a form of dried skipjack, the product may be said to be similar to the traditional Maldive Fish. However, the process of smoke drying which lasts for 21 days at a minimum as opposed to less than a week’s drying for normal smoked skipjack means that Katsuobushi is much drier, therefore a better preserved product. Quality of the product is maintained by using specially imported wood from Japan at specific stages of smoking and by using Refrigerated Containers for shipping the finished product.

Loins[]

There are two kind of loins: cooked loins and frozen loins.

Frozen Yellow Fin Tuna[]

Frozen/chilled yellow fin, gilled and gutted, are exported individually cleaned and packed in master card board boxes with gel ice packets.

See also[]

• Industries in Maldives

External links[]

• MIFCO Official site