29 Apr 2025

Smoking success with digital control

Four big reasons to remove the guess work from your process

The unique flavor and texture of smoked salmon make it a mainstay of the gourmet food market. Its rising popularity as a healthy, tasty ingredient in dishes ranging from salads to pasta, sandwiches to sushi combined with a forecast global market growth of 5.56% annually (CAGR), make it a significant option for salmon processors to consider when looking to expand their product range.

While the market presents incredible opportunities, it is also highly competitive.

Salmon processors ready to capitalize on this lucrative value-added product must be equipped with the tools to ensure the smoked salmon they produce is consistently high-quality to help build brand reputation and marketplace recognition.

1. How do you optimize control over the smoking process?

Quality and consistency in smoking is notoriously difficult to achieve, weight, timing, temperatures, not to mention precise ingredient balance have an effect on both taste and texture of end products. That’s why we created the Salmon Smoking Process solution. It gives you complete control over the entire process from curing, through cooling and packing.

Salmon Smoking software ensures flavor consistency and product quality that will engender consumer trust, by controlling parameters including:

• Temperature range
• Humidity levels
• Smoke density

And monitoring the weight, age and timing through all stages of the process.

A digital system for smoking provides the exact location of product within the processes. Access to this information in real time, and the ability to make immediate adjustments through the Dashboard, optimizes yield and minimizes losses.

2. How do I tell customers where their smoked salmon came from?

The consumer trend for visibility on source origin shows no sign of slowing, with people willing to pay higher prices for verified sustainable seafood. Labels should be clear and easy-to-read, with details such as origin positioned for maximum impact. If processors are selling under their own brand, designing labels can be difficult. When packaging for multiple retail, wholesale and international markets, which have their own specific information, language changes, and style needs, the task is herculean.

Labels need to display:

Information on transparent sourcing
Detailed dietary and allergen information
Brand and certifications
Regulatory body requirements

While where you source your raw material is up to you, Marel’s Labelling Software makes it simple to design and produce professional, easy-to-read labels; even adding QR codes. It integrates seamlessly with the Salmon Smoking Processing software, to ensure details are batch-accurate.

3. What about meeting traceability regulations?

Paper-based systems are inefficient and error prone. In the value-add process of salmon smoking and curing, paper systems can result in costly product losses through processing mistakes, and inventory and order management. Implementing digital traceability systems like the Salmon Smoking solution automates data collection to produce reports on demand for regulatory requests and audits, protects brand reputation by ensuring recalls are swift and specific, and automates inventory management.

Having Marel Software has made audits so much easier. The auditor gives you a barcode and four hours to do a trace, normally we can have it done within about three or four minutes. That kind of speed and accuracy is a relief for an auditor

Enoch Robinson
Technical Manager, JK Thomson

4 minutes to traceability, JK Thomson finds the digital advantage

Beyond compliance, the added transparency of a digital traceability system gives processors the opportunity to optimize process control, increase yield and utilize detailed, real-time data to make insight driven decisions.

Software Solutions with built in traceability from Marel are modular so you can implement and integrate digital systems gradually and where they will have the most benefits for your business.

4. Is there really growth in the smoked salmon market?

Yes! The expansion of distribution channels, popularity in the food service industry, and increasing demand for premium seafood products, continue to drive the market growth for hot and cold smoked salmon in North America and Europe. While the emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East present key opportunities for processors looking to expand their range with a value-added product.

While forecasts vary across market researchers, they all agree on one thing, the smoked salmon market will double in size in the ten years from 2023, with the most reserved forecast predicting a value of USD 8.45 Billion by 2033.

Reliably high-quality results in smoked salmon require absolute production control. Small mistakes can mean waste of valuable product. Having the right tools that help maximize yields and throughput is crucial. The Salmon Smoking Process Solution software ensures complete control over the smoking process and enables accurate real-time monitoring of production flow and inventory to minimize losses. Reach out to learn more about how you can produce a consistently premium product and capitalize on this robust, growing market.

Download the "master your smokehouse" Step-by-Step guide

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