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| "Rotten Church" fish sauce product meets 3-star OCOP standards. |
Hundreds of years ago, the fishing village of Xuong Dien - Van Ly had a fish sauce making profession. The villagers used natural ingredients such as fish and local salt to extract the first essence of fish sauce. Over the years, under the impact of climate change, although the village no longer exists, the traditional fish sauce recipe has been passed down from generation to generation and has developed to this day. However, the households making fish sauce here are still small-scale and have not been able to build a product brand or compete in the market. Since 2019, Mr. Nguyen Duc Duy, a villager with a 3-generation traditional fish sauce making profession, has stood up and gathered the households in the village to join hands to develop and preserve the local traditional profession. With the help of the local government, the Hai Hau Agricultural and Aquatic Cooperative was established, specializing in producing the brand name of the Ruined Church fish sauce. Mr. Duy and his members have been organized by the locality to attend training courses on food hygiene and safety, to build quality products, and to ensure the health of consumers. Currently, the main production facility of Hai Hau Agricultural and Aquatic Cooperative has an area of 4,000m2. In addition to traditional manual processes, the "Rotten Church" fish sauce product complies with the advanced HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) production process. Accordingly, the fish sauce of the cooperative members is mainly produced by the traditional fermentation method. The cooperative has invested in hundreds of tanks, each holding about 2 tons of fish; at the same time, invested in many ceramic jars to dry the extracted fish sauce before bottling the finished product. The production applying the HACCP program has helped the cooperative increase its competitiveness, the ability to capture and expand the market, ensuring convenience for negotiating and signing contracts for the consumption of fish sauce products; on the other hand, helping consumers easily recognize safe and quality products.
Like many other processing facilities in Hai Hau, fish sauce of the cooperative members is mainly produced by traditional fermentation methods, depending on temperature as the decisive factor for ripening time, flavor, and color. The fermentation process is completely in accordance with traditional methods. Due to the favorable location near the sea dike, the cooperative members can choose to buy fresh anchovies from fishing boats on the same day. The source of raw salt is provided by local salt production facilities to ensure food hygiene and safety. Every year, the cooperative purchases 40-50 tons of fish, shrimp of all kinds and 150-200 tons of salt. To produce quality products, after being cleaned, the fish is fermented right in the tank, covered with a thick layer of salt. The fermentation time is usually from 12 months to 1.5 years, ensuring that the fish is completely fermented and decomposed. During the fermentation period, the mixture is periodically stirred and exposed to natural sunlight to help the fish meat be broken up, increasing the contact surface between the enzyme and the fish meat. Regular stirring also increases the temperature to match the fermentation temperature, helping the temperature in the fermentation block to be more even. The cooperative has also boldly applied science and technology in fish sauce processing, focusing on investing in fish sauce filtering systems, washing machines, glass bottle dryers... contributing to increasing productivity 4 times compared to before. The traditional fish sauce production process is still preserved, accordingly, each jar of fish sauce fermentation lasts about 2 years to produce delicious fish sauce, high protein content, special natural flavor. Up to now, Mr. Duy's family alone owns a production area of over 3,000m2. He has invested in making over 150 cement tanks, each tank holds about 2 tons of fish; At the same time, he bought dozens of ceramic jars in Ninh Binh to dry the extracted fish sauce before bottling the finished product. Every year, Mr. Duy's facility supplies the market with 300,000 liters of fish sauce/year, and also purchases and sells products to 8 other members of the cooperative. By strictly following the production process according to the motto "3 no": no colorants, no flavorings, no preservatives, since 2021, the cooperative's fish sauce products have been recognized as meeting the provincial 3-star OCOP standard and are aiming to meet ISO standards to meet export standards. Currently, the cooperative creates stable jobs for 20 workers with an income of 5-6 million VND/person/month. The cooperative's annual revenue is about 3 billion VND.
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| Hai Hau Agricultural and Fishery Cooperative brews fish sauce using traditional methods. |
Currently, the brand "Rotten Church Fish Sauce" of Hai Hau Agricultural and Aquatic Cooperative is increasingly favored by customers nationwide. In the coming time, the Cooperative is expected to strive to increase the fish sauce production capacity from 500 thousand to 1 million liters/year. In addition to mid-range and popular fish sauces, suitable for the needs of the majority of consumers, the Cooperative is aiming to produce high-end products, made from selected raw materials, with longer fermentation time and higher prices to meet consumer tastes.
Article and photos: Hong Minh
Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/kinh-te/202504/hop-tac-xa-nong-nghiep-va-thuy-san-hai-hautung-buoc-nang-tam-thuong-hieu-25a5d77/
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