09/10/2013 12:39 AST
In a bid to popularise its Taqa brand of breaded and battered seafood products among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Oman Fisheries will participate in the second Omani Products Exhibition which will be held in Doha, Qatar, from November 17 to 20. The company was an exhibitor at the first Omani Products Exhibition held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last year.
The Taqa brand of ready-to-use breaded seafood products is steadily establishing itself as a delicious, protein-rich and healthier alternative to junk foods that have flooded the market, garnering sales of as much as 400 tonnes last year across local and foreign markets.
Oman Fisheries is the first company to launch breaded and battered fish and seafood products in the Sultanate, a decade ago in 2003. And the sales figures are a clear indication of a slow but gradual preference for seafood among a large number of consumers.
"Consumption of breaded fish is truly picking up in the Sultanate, but challenges remain. There is need for more awareness drives to highlight seafood options," an official at Oman Fisheries commented, adding the company plans to open more outlets to widen market reach of Taqa products.
Up for grabs are traditional breaded products like fish nuggets, fish burgers, fish fingers, jumbo shrimp crispies, breaded prawns, breaded fish fillets, apart from innovative items such as fish biscuits, pop-corn shrimps, breaded squids rings and peeled & deveined cooking shrimps apart from butterfly shrimps, breaded cuttlefish cubes and fish balls that were launched recently. These products, which are also being exported to the UAE, Qatar,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius and Jordan, are available at all supermarkets apart from Oman
Fisheries outlets.
Trained Omani women
True to its commitment to supporting communities where it operates, almost all the workers at the plant's production section are Omani women from the local communities, who were given on-the-job training by the company.
Taqa products are made at Oman Fisheries's HACCP accredited, fully automated plant in Al Buraimi under the control and guidance of fish Quality Control Centre at Marine science.
The factory follows the Time Temperature and Traceability (TTT) quality model, ensuring all the process steps hazards are analysed, critical control points well identified, controlled, reviewed and updated, according to an official at the plant. Having reached full capacity, the plant will see significant expansion in the near future with a wider range of products in the pipeline, the official added.
Times of Oman
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