Global literature review - Appendices

1. List of search terms used.

2. Zotero database. https://www.zotero.org/groups/2183860/dried_fish_matters. Snapshot version of the database at the time of this review archived at doi:10.34990/FK2/UEECDM.

3. Tag definitions table [DJ1] [ET2] .

4. Metadata analysis code. https://github.com/DriedFishMatters/zotero-meta-analysis-toolkit/

5. Queries and code for generating graphs (including lists of continents, countries, etc.).

[DJ1]This table should include some between the lines explanations of our categorization logic. For example, we should explain why we have not kept the cured fish product type in the paper's main analysis because it did not appear to be a discrete category, but an umbrella term. We will also need to pull out the themes that we collapsed into the overarching themes in the quantitative section.

For the product definitions: The minor category of derivative products and fish powder refers primary to the development of novel dried fish products through industrial process innovations.

Fermented fish refer to products that are still moist, but can be stored for extended periods of time at ambient temperatures.In some cases fish are dried through the application of heat from the sun or mechanical sources, but have an element of fermentation in the drying process. Fish paste is a sub-type of fermented fish, but we have separated it out in Figure 6 as it is an important and distinct sub-product type. When fish paste is added to the fermented fish category, the proportion of fermented fish tags in the total literature is greater than salted fish. Fish sauce is a by-product of fermented fish production and is thus also a kind of fermented fish. Again, however, we separate it out as it is also a major product category unto itself. Finally, the product category that has the least attention in the literature on dried fish products is pickled fish. It is interesting as it is also a boundary crossing product that is salted and fermented, but not dried.

The remaining important product category is smoked fish. These are also dried through the application of heat, but smoke-generating fire is a key part of the process to hasten drying and add flavour. We have excluded cold smoked fish from the analysis, as these products do not conform to our definition that the product must be storable at ambient temperature.

[ET2]On “cured fish” - I removed this from the dataset for the reasons given in Derek's comment. There are some issues with mapping of local terms to English or scientific ones. For example, the Chinese-authored literature refers to “cured fish”, seemingly Yān yu, which back-translates to “salted fish” - the term that is widely used in the English-language literature on Chinese fish products. This actually includes dry-salted, brined, and pickled products.

Also ran into this:

Fish curing comprises all methods of preservation except refrigeration and canning. It includes (1) the drying, smoking, salting and pickling of fish, (2) various combinations of these methods, and (3) miscellaneous methods such as the use of vinegar and fermentation processes of ripening. (Norman Jarvis, “Curing Of Fishery Products”)

I'll start up a document on our wiki to capture these terminological notes, since I have the feeling they will be important at some point.