Norwegian Journal of Agricultural Sciences : fillet gaping in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar)

Abstract

An evaluation of fillet gaping was carried out at three factories processing farmed Atlantic salmon. In two of the factories 22-25 % of the fillets were found to have moderate to severe gaping and it appeared that prolonged storage time on ice increased gaping. In two separate selections, 10 fillets with and 10 without gaping were compared. Resistance against depression as well as elasticity was reduced in fillets with gaping. Fillets without gaping showed a higher protein content, less glycogen and a lower level of pH, while no differences were observed in fat content. In the first selection the mean fat content was higher, and texture measurements (Instron) revealed a safter consistency than in fillets from the second selection. When the correlation between rough handling of fish befare slaughter and gaping was further studied, it was found that fillets from roughly handled fish tended to have more gaping, but no differences were observed in texture measurements. Sensory analyses revealed stranger taste attributes in carefully treated fish.