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Stress assessment, quality indicators and shelf life of three aquaculture important marine fish, in relation to harvest practices, water temperature and slaughter method
Author(s) -
Papaharisis Leonidas,
Tsironi Theofania,
Dimitroglou Arkadios,
Taoukis Petros,
Pavlidis Michail
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/are.14217
Subject(s) - sea bass , fishery , biology , shelf life , aquaculture , dicentrarchus , food spoilage , zoology , fish <actinopterygii> , food science , genetics , bacteria
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of harvest practices and slaughter method on stress, quality and shelf life of whole fish (gilthead sea bream, European sea bass and red sea bream) towards the development of a humane slaughter practice. The use of hook and line resulted in significantly lower plasma cortisol and glucose in European sea bass and gilthead sea bream. Water temperature at harvest affected significantly the concentrations of stress indicators (plasma cortisol and glucose), mainly in European sea bass and gilthead sea bream. No significant differences were observed between the harvesting methods, regarding fish appearance, microbial spoilage and sensory scoring and subsequently shelf life. However, significantly lower hardness was recorded in fish harvested using the electric stunner, compared to the fish killed with slurry ice of the same harvesting period. Shelf life ranged between 13–18 days for gilthead seabream, 10–16 days for European sea bass and 10–14 days for red sea bream, depending on harvesting period.