In the cold seas surrounding Iceland, we work with Mother Nature to harvest the finest fish found anywhere in the world.  We have two primary fishing operations; day-fishing operations and our factory vessel operations.  The difference between the two is quite simple: On our factory vessels, such as aboard; Manaberg, Kleifaberg, and  Sigurbjorg from Iceland, or our Ocean Trawlers and Yagry boats from Norway and Russia, we fish, process and pack the fish right on board the boat!  The fish is processed extremely quickly, sealing in the freshness, quality and taste.  Our day-boats go out fishing daily, then bring their catch to our plants on shore for production into Iceland Harvest seafood products.  We also have another four Ocean Trawlers boats that catch and freeze the fish whole for further production in our OP plants.

Processing seafood begins with Quality Control.  We first inspect every fish that comes into our processing arena - whether it is on board our factory vessels where we produce Packed at Sea shatterpacked fillets, or in our Iceland Harvest or OP plants where we produce fillets, portions and cello wrapped fillets.  We grade the fish for size and then processing begins.  First, we fillet each fish, either by hand or by finely-tuned machine.  After filleting, the fish is either skinned or scaled depending on whether or not the final product is to be skinless or skin-on.  Next, we trim, inspect and portion the fillet.  It is at this point we remove the pin-bones.  After producing a perfect fillet, loin or tail, we either Individually Quick freeze (IQF) the fish, shatterpack it, or cello wrap the fish and quickly freeze it. Packaging in master cases occurs after the fish is completely frozen.

Quality Control
Before we bring the fish to the Reykjavik area for shipping to the United States, we randomly sample the fish for many quality facets; color, taste, odor, cut, trim, accuracy of sizing, workmanship, packaging integrity and texture to name a few.

Shipping
Shipping is a multi-part interface.  First we pack the fish into containers built for international transport.  These containers are loaded onto container-boats which leave Iceland every other week. Upon arrival in the Untied States, the Food and Drug Administration and the Customs Service both must inspect all seafood imports that enter the country.  Once clearance has been established, the fish is shipped to our cold storage facility in the Boston, Massachusetts area.  A further quality check is initiated at this point utilizing our own staff as well as independent testing labs.

Consumption
The manner in which Manaberg Packed at Sea and Iceland Harvest seafood products are presented to the consumer is very important to us.  These products are of the highest quality found anywhere in the world.  You can feel confident in knowing that Manaberg Packed at Sea fillets, Ocean Trawlers and Yagry Frozen at Sea fillets, OP fillets, X-Sea-Lnt fillets and seafood products and Iceland Harvest fish fillets will keep your customers coming back!