WASHING MACHINES

Fish may require to be washed at several stages during processing; they may be washed as a part of a sequence of operations as in gutting, and again on entry to a processing plant after removal from iced stowage.

Washing helps to remove spoilage bacteria, blood, dirt and waste material from the surface of the fish, and from the belly cavities of gutted fish, thus slowing down decay, improving appearance and reducing contamination. The use of washing machines at sea immediately after gutting helps to bleed the fish properly by introducing a delay between gutting and stowage, and also helps to ensure proper stowage by presenting the washed fish in a steady stream rather than in large batches as happens after washing by hand.

A wide range of washing machines has been made from time to time, often to the customer’s special requirements, for use on white fish or fatty fish, at sea or on shore. Two main types have evolved those which move the fish through a spray, and those which move the fish through a bath; typical examples are described here.

Newly gutted white fish on large British trawlers are usually thrown into an open bath known as the Humber washer, in which the fish are swirled round by opposing jets of water for a few minutes before being discharged over a weir leading to a chute into the fishroom. Two main types have evolved considerably by the motion of the ship. Similar baths for washing and bleeding are often used between gutting and freezing operations on freezer trawlers.

Spray washers are typically inclined rotating drums fitted with an internal spiral and succession of spray nozzles; equipment of this kind is made by Wilson, Baader, and Walcker among others. The fish are tumbled through the drum by the rotating spiral, and the waste water drains away through holes, slits or open meshes in the drum wall. The drum may be of circular or hexagonal cross section, up to about 3m long and 0.6-1.0 m diameter. The main particulars of two typical commercial models are given below in the Table 1.

Rotary washers for white fish

Table 1

Herring are softer and more susceptible to damage than white fish, and cannot be tumbled through a rotary spray washer. This difficulty has been overcome in one commercial washer by Baader in which a drum with an internal spiral is immersed in a trough of water so that the herring are washed as they are conveyed without damage through the bath.

Exercise 2.Give the Russian equivalents to the following words and phrases:

softer and more susceptible, the waste water, of circular or hexagonal cross section, at several stages, the main particulars, without damage, a sequence of operations, a steady stream, helps to bleed the fish properly

Exercise 3.Complete the sentences according to the text:

1. Two main types have evolved …

2. Two main types have evolved …

3. Herring are softer and more susceptible to damage than white fish,…

4. Newly gutted white fish on large British trawlers …

5. Fish may require to be washed …

Exercise 4.Speak about the differences of the Baader and Wilson washing machines.

TEXT 3.

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text: