SPACETASTE · Towards off flavour free finfish aquaculture

Off flavour is the presence of undesired sensory properties in food items. Most common in aquaculture products are earthy-musty off flavours caused by the presence of geosmin and 2-methyl-iso-borneol (MIB) in fish tissues. Off flavour is associated to land-based aquaculture production systems with high nutrient loadings such as pond systems and recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).Off flavour causes economic damage to the aquaculture industry through consumer rejection and low consumer appreciation of aquaculture products and through the additional costs of off flavour removal from fish crops prior to market entrance. Off flavour in farmed fish is an extensively studied and well documented problem. Despite this, satisfactory solutions for the problem are still lacking today. The overall objective of this project is to established a reduction of the incidence of off flavour in farmed fish produced in RAS. The project adopts three strategies to reach this objective:1) Preventive strategy: reducing the microbial production of geosmin and MIB in aquaculture production systems;2) Curative strategy: removing geosmin and MIB from the fish culture water;3) Alternative strategy: optimizing the depuration process.The foreseen results of the project include:1) Measures to reduce off flavour in RAS2) Low off flavour RAS design3) A bioreactor for geosmin and MIB removal from RAS4) Measures to improve off flavour depuration processes5) Design of optimal off flavour depuration facility6) Trained sensory panelsThe consortium that will implement this project consists of four SMEs, one Other partner and three RTDs.