Hello George
Not sure what your setup is but I will describe how we used to process live
farmed Atlantic salmon to maintain the best possible quality.
Delivered live from the farm in tender boat with recirculating oxygenated
water.
Brailed (plastic lined) in water into slush iced bins (starts the immediate
chilling from ambient 48 F
90 seconds of injected (into water) co2 gas to stun but not kill fish.
Fish are dumped (gently) onto table where the gill arch is severed and the
fish go back into slush ice to bleed out. You have to get the blood out to
preserve and increase shelf life.
Butcher and clean fish and then immediately into layer ice (including belly)
slush ice would work too although you have to monitor time so as not to
bleach gills and/or waterlog fish.
Chilled to at least 36 F prior to packing in layer ice in styro boxes
Finished boxes placed in freezer or cooler until shipment
Finished cases shipped to market that evening. Can't get much fresher than
alive to market in less than 24 hours.
Summary: The keys are 1) get the blood out, including gills 2) maintain cold
chain from receiving to shipment. Fish are never allowed to warm once
received and in fact each step is
to lower temp. Vital not to pack fish over 36 F or ice in box melts and
exposes fish to air.
We obtained shelf life after this process of 2-3 weeks, (even with the gills
in).
Regards,
Jon McGraw
Seafreeze Cold Storage
-----Original Message-----
From: G Saridakis [mailto:seaburst@voicenet.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 7:32 AM
To: seafood@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Harvest and Packing of Tilapia
We are nearing our first harvest of tilapia from a recirculating
aquaculture system and have questions about best procedures for
harvesting and packing the fish. The plan is to pack fish whole on ice
in 50 lb waxed boxes. Should fish first be chilled in a cold water bath
to remove heat, should they go directly on ice or is there another
process that should be followed?
Any advice on recommended procedures would be appreciated.
George E. Saridakis
Seaburst Aquaculture Systems
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Apr 07 2005 - 07:56:37 PDT