Influence of marketing and different land-based systems on gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) quality.

Abstract

Seabream (Sparus aurata) production is growing in theMediterranean and the evaluation of its quality concerns both producers andconsumers alike. In this area, most of the sea bream culture is carried out incages but there is also production in land-based facilities. The culturesystem,and specifically its degree of intensity, greatly influences final productquality, through management during production, harvest and marketing processes.In this respect, land-based technology is more likely to affect final quality,both in a positive and in a negative way. In the present work the effects onseabream (Sparus aurata) of three inland culture systems arestudied. The quality of wild fish is also studied and taken as standard becauseit is the quality better known to the consumers. Different aspects related tobiometry, sensorial evaluation, degree of freshness (pH and water holdingcapacity) and chemical composition of muscle are assessed. The influence ofpost-harvest management on the sensorial quality of cultured and fishery caughtfish is also studied when they arrive at the market. According to the resultsall parameters, i.e. sensorial, freshness and biometric measures, show somesignificant differences according to the culture system. A super-intensiveculture system significantly affects the appearance of the fish, producing morecompact fish without the characteristic colour pattern of the species. Thefish cultured in two different semi-intensive systems show more similaritieswith the wild fish, both in colour and appearance. Some differences in thefreshness indices are also found, with the super-intensive cultured fish theones showing the lowest results. When evaluating the influence of post-harvestmanagement on semi-intensive cultured fish and wild fish, all freshness indicesexcept gills are affected, but both groups of fish tolerate the process in asimilar way.