Boneless Fish facts for kids

Boneless Fish is a special kind of fish product that is sold frozen. It was invented in Japan in 1998 by a company called Dairei Corporation. This product is unique because it's a fish that has had all its bones carefully removed.

After the bones are taken out, the fish is put back together. It looks like a whole fish, but without the head and fins. Then, it's quickly frozen and packaged, ready for you to cook at home. Even though it's possible to make a boneless fish with its head and fins, it's usually not done because it's too difficult.

Why Boneless Fish Was Created

Boneless Fish was first made to help specific groups of people. These included older people, patients in hospitals, and schoolchildren. The main idea was to make eating fish easier and safer for them.

Unlike a regular frozen fish fillet, a Boneless Fish pack looks just like a whole fish that has been cleaned. You can cook it in the same way you would cook any other fish.

In 2002, Dairei started selling Boneless Fish to families. People found it very helpful because it's super easy to get ready. Also, when you cook Boneless Fish at home, there's very little waste compared to cooking a regular fish from the market. This means less mess and more fish to eat!

How Boneless Fish is Made

Making Boneless Fish takes a lot of careful work. Dairei has special factories in countries like Thailand, China, and Vietnam. These factories follow strict rules to make sure the food is safe and clean.

Workers at these factories carefully cut open the fish. They then use small tweezers to remove every single bone. After the bones are out, the fish is checked very closely to make sure it's completely bone-free.

Next, the fish pieces are "glued back together" using a special food-safe enzyme. This enzyme is made by another Japanese company called Ajinomoto. The enzyme is called transglutaminase. It acts like a natural glue, helping the fish pieces stick together. This process works best at cool temperatures, usually below 5 °C. It can take several hours for the enzyme to do its job perfectly.

Other Cool Fish Products

The idea of boneless fish was very popular. This led to other interesting fish products being invented in Japan.

Fish with Delicious Bones

One product is called "Fish with Delicious Bones" (honemade oishii sakana). It has been sold since 2004. This fish is prepared in a special way using heat and pressure. This process makes the fish bones so soft that you can eat the entire fish, including the head and fins! It's a bit like how the bones in canned sardines become soft enough to eat. This product was invented by Maruha Corporation and Miyajima Soysauce Corporation.

Cold Set Bound Fish Kebabs

Another similar product is "Cold Set Bound Fish Kebabs." These kebabs are made by layering different types of fish, like salmon and cod. These layers are then "glued together" using the same transglutaminase enzyme that is used for Boneless Fish.