The drained weight of various marinated fried fish products bought in
retail stores were determinated. For breaded and fried herring balls m
ade from coarsely cut fillet pieces (''Bratrollchen'') in marinade, th
e regulation demands a net weight of balls of 60%. To study the influe
nce of higher herring ball inputs to obtain at least a drained weight
of 60% of the product several experimental series were prepared under
commercial conditions. An increase of the net weight of the balls lead
s to considerable quality deteriorations of the products: high deforma
tion and queezing rates were found in the jars and the balls were part
ially damaged during withdrawing.