Haddock fillets. (Photo: Nofima)
Haddock quality improves with live storage
NORWAY
Saturday, October 21, 2017, 02:30 (GMT + 9)
Nofima researchers have concluded that if the haddock is caught alive and kept in tanks up to slaughter, high quality products may be produced with all the capture.
These scientists explain that haddock is difficult to handle and it is more fragile and susceptible to stress during its capture than cod and, as a result, the flesh easily splits and falls apart.
They stress that there are two key challenges related to haddock quality. One is that the fish are processed after a few days of cold storage, which results in soft muscle. The second is blood in the muscle that largely arises from catching and handling on board.
Therefore, these trials have been done on board the vessel M/S Ballstadøy with specimens caught off the Finnmark coast, not in pens as is the case with a small part of the cod quota.
As part of the testing process, they made several hauls with seine nets for haddock with different fishing gear configurations.
After catching, the haddock was kept alive in tanks and delivered to the Båtsfjord facility, where it was slaughtered and processed. The delivery of live stored fish allowed for filleting of super-fresh haddock, which resulted in fillets without splitting and with little blood.
“We obtained fillets of amazing quality that the Båtsfjord facility could produce to high quality products,” points out researcher Torbjørn Tobiassen.
When the haddock were slaughtered the next day, they were processed immediately.
“The Båtsfjord facility reported a significant quality improvement. They could cut whole, fine fillets with very little blood compared to traditional catches. There were no limitations to their production, and according to the employees this was a raw material that was very easy to work with,” Tobiassen says.
Nofima scientists received feedback from the company, stating that the proportion of high quality products increased by 25 per cent compared to traditional deliveries of haddock.
The project is funded by FHF (the Fishery and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund) in close cooperation with industry partners (Båtsfjordbruket AS, Lerøy ASA and Nergård AS).
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