Product quality assessment
Fish (seafood) is a food commodity that rapidly changes after it has been caught. This results in changes in (sensory) qualities.
Product qualities that can be measured by IMARES are:
- Freshness (by Quality Index Method (QIM))
- Texture (by Instrom texture analyses)
- Onset of Rigor Mortis
- Flesh colour
- Sensory description of the product (by Quantitative Descriptive Analyses QDA)
These analyses make it possible to ‘translate’ consumer demands to product characteristics and further down the chain production/aquaculture methods.
Furthermore these analyses enable us to measure the effects of changes in production/aquaculture methods. For example different stunning and slaughtering techniques have an effect on flesh texture, colour and onset of rigor mortis. These effects are measured and consequences like extended shelf life are monitored.