The prawn industry is being challenged to provide prawn product that maintains premium quality throughout an extended storage-life. Significant revenue loss for farmed prawns within the retail sector occurs through product not meeting market colour specification and also severe price reduction near the end of chilled storage life. The losses can be minimised by optimising on-farm production protocols to maintain a consistent colour in farmed prawns during frozen storage and by gaining additional shelf-life of chilled cooked prawns throughout the supply chain.

The opportunity is to introduce a range of technologies, along with widely-adopted proven best practise, that maintains premium quality after cooking and freezing. The technologies will incorporate natural compounds with antimicrobial/antioxidant properties, synergistic packaging, glazing and thereby extend chilled storage-life of the prawn whilst maintaining optimal quality. By maximising astaxanthin level at harvest and reducing degradation during storage, consistent premium red-orange colour of prawns will be assured for the retail market.

This research addresses the Program 3: Improving Farmed Prawn Market Value priority of APFA’s Five Year R&D Plan for the Australian Prawn Farming Industry, 2007-2012. Program 3 seeks to achieve the objective of increasing the average price received for Australian farmed prawns to $16.50/kg.