Students Work on Salmon By-product Project
Two NC State Food Science Summer Scholars, Taha Ahnhad and Mariam Bayeh, have been working in the CMAST Seafood Lab developing crackers and chips made from smoked salmon skins. They will present their work at the NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium later this week.
According to Mariam, the product development process for the crackers involves grinding the salmon byproducts using a pestle and mortar, combining the leftover “powder” with a bread substance, adding spices like rosemary and garlic, shaping them into small crackers, and then air-frying, them. The products are now being in the process of being taste-tasted.
ACME Smoked Fish in Wilmington has provided the salmon byproducts for the projects, which are nearing completion. The next phase of the projects will be to conduct texture tests and shelf-life analyses. Taha, who has been spear-heading the development of salmon chips, says creating the chips are a simpler process using salmon skin as the main ingredient.
When asked about what they learned from their summer experiences, Mariam says she learned how important it is to follow a step-by-step process, focusing on one thing at a time, and how important analysis is, as well. Taha said the most impactful part of the program for him was working in a lab environment. While they both indicated that the projects were a lot of work, they were very rewarding, and they were both “grateful for the opportunities.”
During their summer scholar experience, Taha and Mariam also had the opportunity to attend the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Conference in Chicago, where food science researchers met to discuss and seek scientific solutions for global food concerns.
