Avoiding deterioration of fish quality

Fish are part of the animal kingdom. It is defined as a cold-blooded vertebrate, an animal with a backbone that also has fins and gills and lives in the water. Fish flesh is readily digested, and it is subjected to highly active bacterial enzymes.

Fish are considered to be among the most perishable of foodstuff; even when held under chilled conditions the quality quickly deteriorates.

As soon as the fish are harvested bacterial activity can be reduced and thus prevent deterioration of fish quality. A simple principle that applies to all fresh food and especially to fish are:

Handle the product strictly under sanitary conditions to keep the microbial contamination a minimum.

Handle the product at cool temperature (microbes multiply rapidly and spoilage reactions proceed rapidly at warm temperature but both proceed slowly at cool temperature. Lean fish should be kept at a temperature of 20 ° C or lower and fatty fish as herring and tuna should be kept at a temperature not higher than 28.8 ° C.

Reduce the temperature of the fish either by simply keeping it cool or better by chilling it with ice.

Handle the product quickly – fish deteriorate as a function of time as well as temperature.

Reduce the water content of the fish by drying, salting or smoking.
Avoiding deterioration of fish quality