Following customer complaints of excessive gape in harvested product in September 2016, there was a requirement to understand factors that may be contributing to quality issues. Historical records revealed that this is a common complaint during this period of the harvest cycle and this research is the first step in developing a long term strategy for understanding the issue and improving the consistency of harvest product throughout the year.
The aim of this study is to
(i) develop techniques to document and compare fish quality within CSIRO and Tassal,
(ii) benchmark the texture and gaping status of harvest fish
(iii) explore biochemical and structural factors that correlate to gaping
(iv) develop a longer term approach to monitoring and managing seasonal flesh quality issues.