Diversification, domestication and management of quality in aquaculture

Abstract

Diversification in aquaculture related either to system, species or product required a specific management of product quality. This review presents different approaches implemented with the domestication of new species (carp, salmon, catfish, seabass, flatfish). It also reviews available information on the main traits of products that could be used to built a generic approach on quality in support of diversification.

The first approach aimed to get a global knowledge of the product through the identification of the main specific traits of the product, the development of a simplified assessment either of the global quality of the product or its specific quality traits, and the analysis of the optimal conditions for preservation of the main specific traits. The last step could be improved by using multifactorial approaches to get a hierarchy in the effects of the different factors involved in control of quality traits.

The second approach has been implemented when domestication induces deleterious changes in quality traits of products. These changes could be similar to those observed in animal production (higher fat content, texture and juiciness troubles) or specific to fish production (pigmentation troubles, off flavour). The trouble observed is described and its prevalence is measured using objective means, so that hypothesis could be proposed on the cause and origin which are often complex. The assessment of the main factors involved requires epidemiological (based on surveys), multifactorial and statistical approaches. This information is then integrated in a classical quality control.

A complementary approach could be built starting from the information available on the new farmed fish. It should be based on identity card (biology, ecology, phylogeny) of the species which could be classified in a group of species already characterised in term of quality. It should also be based on typology or classification for each quality trait, which would help to roughly predict the quality trait of the product. The available typology, classification and general law have however to be largely improved to be used in such a purpose.