When Jerry Knecht started his seafood processing business, North Atlantic Inc., on the Portland waterfront in 1986, the seafood business in New England hadn’t changed much in hundreds of years. North Atlantic then cut and sold local fresh groundfish like most other local processors, but Knecht decided to do business a little differently by focusing on quality.
Back then, traditional New England species such as cod and haddock were more plentiful and Knecht had owned groundfish vessels since 1980. Along with other handling techniques and technologies aimed at improving the quality of landed fish, Knecht signed on to a boxing-at-sea program sponsored by the New England Fisheries Development Foundation.
In addition, he filled the holds of the vessels with ice containing potassium sorbate and citric acid, a combination that lowered the pH of the ice (and therefore the pH of the whole fish) to retard bacterial growth.
From the start, Knecht has been involved in a never-ending war against bacteria.
The latest technology he has adopted is NutraPure, injecting fish protein into fresh seafood to extend shelf life by destroying pathogens, among other features. The process was patented by Proteus, a company based in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
North Atlantic’s focus on quality hasn’t changed, but the seafood business has, and so has Knecht’s. The company no longer owns boats, and now, instead of buying only fresh New England groundfish, Knecht buys a variety of fish, including frozen, from the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Vietnam and China.
Three years ago, North Atlantic built a new plant at the edge of the Portland fish pier, near the Marine Trade Center and the Portland Fish Exchange’s display auction hall, just down the street from the old plant.
“We’re a really different company than we were three years ago,” said Knecht. “We are now direct importers of a lot of fish,” including swordfish, tuna, mahi, grouper, snapper, shark and tilapia. “And we’re really focused on what we do best, which is to adapt technological transfers from other industries and pass them on to our customers.”
One technology North Atlantic has been using with great success is ozonated water, used for everything from rinsing fish to cleaning up the plant. Ozonated water reduces the bacteria count, extends the shelf life. Ozonated water is used for everything in the plant, including rinsing every piece of fish and cleaning up plant surfaces.
Technological adaptation isn’t a departure for North Atlantic, Knecht explains. To him it means a stronger focus on the company’s core principles. He not only keeps up with technological advances, but with business theories, especially those based on innovative principles.
In his book, “Good to Great,” author Jim Collins identified all Fortune 500 companies that had consistent double-digit growth over 20 years, and found that only 13 qualified. “He researched them to discover their commonalities, and it was all really great, commonsensical stuff,” said Knecht.
According to Collins, successful companies reached a place where the principals “arrive at what their passion is about, what drives the business economically and what they are best at in the world.” Identifying these elements for North Atlantic “was a really defining process for us. Everyone in the company understands it. We’re really focused on who we are and what we’re doing.”
Knecht sees NutraPure not only as an extension of the company principles, but in an entirely different category as well. “There are innovative products, but there are also disruptive innovative products,” Knecht said. “Those disruptive products force people to think about things differently. “Ozonated water is a line extension. It reduces the bacteria count, extends shelf life, but it doesn’t force people to think about seafood differently,” he added. “Protein injection forces people to look at the product differently.”
That’s because NutraPure not only reduces the bacteria count by lowering the pH of the fish, but also increases the protein content. “Fish has less protein per ounce than meat and poultry. To get the same amount of protein, you need to eat a bigger portion. By increasing the protein level, you can get fish into the same category as meat from a protein standpoint.
“This enables fish to meet the USDA guidelines for elder feeding,” which require a specific amount of protein per 4-oz. serving. This change would provide new opportunities for seafood producers,” said Knecht. Added protein combined with the fact that fish injected with protein retains less fat and more natural moisture when fried, makes a 4-oz. piece of fish a really different product.
In order to accomplish the NutraPure process, fresh fish portions travel on a conveyor through injector equipment where needles inject the protein solution into the flesh. In the plant, Knecht uses technology to recapture as much of the pricey protein concentrate as possible. On the line, airblades blow the protein off fish that has been injected and back into a reservoir for reuse. “We started with high losses, but we’re down to 25 percent,” he said.
The plant has tried modified atmosphere packaging to extend shelf life for its retail buyers, “effective, but the regulations make it too difficult.” After that, Knecht tried ozonated water, and now, NutraPure. “NutraPure may potentially change how people market protein,” said Knecht. “It’s expensive, but the weight gain nearly offsets the cost. And it allows us to differentiate our product from others.”
“It requires more labor, but it’s a break-even proposition from the industrial side. The other side is marketing. There’s a small group of innovative people willing to get involved with using the process and there’s a corresponding small market of people who will be interested because it’s high quality,” said Knecht.
“It remains to be seen if those willing to innovate will get into the mainstream market. Will we cross the chasm? We don’t know.” Knecht has used the NutraPure system since May. “We don’t know if it will work, but we believe in it — we have done about everything we can to the outside of the fish to keep bacteria down. We have a 99 percent bacteria-free plant and 99 percent bacteria-free product already, using ozonated water.”
The NutraPure process allows North Atlantic to protect the product inside, by injecting protein into the fish muscle “without any adulterating residuals. That’s why we chose ozone also, there are no residuals.”
“Now we’re using ozone and protein. Nothing leaves the plant that’s not ozonated,” said Knecht. In addition, the North Atlantic plant undergoes an independent third-party audit annually. “We don’t have to, we just want to, in order to assure our customers of our high quality.”
There’s a lab in the plant where workers use sterile swabs to test fish for histamines, salmonella, listeria and other pathogens. “We not only test our finished product, but product coming in to us.”
Knecht said the company no longer needs modified atmosphere packaging, where packs are backflushed with carbon dioxide gas to prevent bacteria growth during shipping. North Atlantic has adopted a new CO2 technique transferred from the aerospace industry. A white pad that comes impregnated with CO2 and resembles the soaker pad on the bottom of a supermarket chicken tray is placed on top of the fish inside a plastic bag in a 10-lb. Styrofoam pack. Ice is placed around the bag, and the moisture inside the pack activates the CO2 and creates an anti-bacterial environment.
“The customer gets a 99 percent bacteria-free product,” said Knecht. “If the retailer handles it properly, bacterial growth will be slower and shelf life will be extended by at least a couple of days.”
“The NutraPure system has paid off for us from the standpoint of our customers. The customers we deal with are buying quality, not price. It’s expensive on our side, but we’re not chasing the price customer. That’s all about nickels and a race to the bottom.”