MANAGING TEXTURE QUALITY OF ATLANTIC SALMON THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF MOLECULAR AND MORPHOLOGIAL APPROACHES

Growing awareness related to soft flesh and gaping has led to considerable financial losses to Norwegian salmon farmers. Fillets with soft texture or gaping have an unattractive appearance, the yield is decreased as the fillets are damaged during machine filleting and slicing. Soft texture also tend to correlate with other quality defects, such as reduced liquid holding capacity (LHC) and paler fillet colour. In the long-term, high frequency of deteriorated quality might also represent a threat to the goo d reputation of the farming industry as being producers of sustainable, superior quality products. In the present project, fundamental knowledge on factors impacting morphological characteristics and post-mortem degradation processes will be elucidated in order to provide scientific based strategies that ensure high fillet quality of farmed Atlantic salmon according to industrial and costumers? preferences.