Transforming tilapia processing

FilleXia is revolutionizing the industry as the first automated tilapia filleting machine to deliver consistently high-quality products at high-yields. Until now, tilapia processing has relied on a large, highly skilled workforce to fillet the fish manually. Hand filleting leaves room for error and increases raw material waste and the risk of contamination, along with unreliable filleting speeds and high processing costs. This traditional system of manual filleting has hampered the industry from creating a strong market economy. The FilleXia changes the game, enabling processors to supply consumers with a more affordable and accessible tilapia product.

Launching in December 2021 at Brazil's International Fish Congress & Fish Expo (IFC), the long-awaited technology of the FilleXia was welcomed with excitement. Designed and built utilizing more than 20 years of experience in the fish industry, Marel's FilleXia has advanced automation that addresses the tilapia industry's need for improved raw material utilization and an ability to meet increasing government regulations on food and labor safety.

By automating tilapia filleting, production becomes consistent in quality and speed, human impact and contamination risks are minimized and processors no longer need to depend on a highly skilled workforce, thereby dramatically reducing production costs. The combined circular and band knives accurately split whole tilapia, removing the rib bone and filleting with maximized raw material utilization. The increased production speed of up to 40 fish per minute means processors can produce a higher-quality product at a significantly lower cost.

FilleXia features include an easy-to-clean design, compact construction and a multilingual color touchpad for safe and easy operations management, increasing production control to optimize yield and profitability even further.

Worldwide, an estimated 1 – 1.5 million tons of tilapia are filleted annually. With the majority of processors manually filleting and removing the rib bone, the processes is expensive and yield and product quality inconsistent. Introducing FilleXia to the industry enables a significant increase in this tonnage in the coming years.

By presenting a more affordable and accessible product to consumers, the tilapia industry can create demand and build a strong market economy for tilapia in the future, bringing broad benefits to processors and the economy as a whole.