76546 - Seafood Quality

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be aware of how seafood quality is affected by production and harvesting systems as well as of empirical and analitycal methods to assess product quality.

Course contents

Classification of seafood. Statistics on global production of fish products according to the production system (fisheries and aquaculture). Main species of pelagic, demersal, diadromous and freshwater fish, crustaceans and mollusks. World, European and domestic data on production and consumption of seafood.

Chemical composition of seafood. Structure of finfish muscles. Characteristics of proteins and lipids and variability on its content and composition. Composition of edible portion of crustaceans and mollusks.

Freshness of seafood. Main degradative processes during storage. Evaluation of freshness/quality by sensory empirical indicators and standardized criteria and analytical chemical/biochemical, physical and microbiological parameters.

Main fishing and aquaculture production systems. Major fishing systems as related to seafood species. Aquaculture systems for mussels, clams, oysters, trout, sea bass and sea bream. Critical issues and innovations in breeding of other fish species.

Peri-mortem phases and quality of fish products. Harvesting, killing/stunning, bleeding and evisceration. Implications of refrigeration and freezing methods on seafood quality.

Seafood processing. Main principles and techniques. Drying, salting, smoking, marination, canning and surimi technology. Packaging and labelling of seafood products.

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture slides and notes

Gokoglu N., Yerlikaya P. (2015). Seafood chilling, refrigeration and freezing: science and technology. Wiley-Blackwell

Grazyna Daczkowska-Kozon E., Sun Pan B. (2010). Environmental effects on seafood availability, safety, and quality. CRC Press.

Rehbein H., Oehlenschlager J. (2009). Fishery products: Quality, safety and authenticity. Wiley-Blackwell.

Venugopal V. (2005). Seafood processing: Adding value through quick freezing, retortable packaging and cook-chilling. CRC Press.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures

Laboratory practises

Seminaries held by food sector experts

Assessment methods

The oral examination will consist of an interview lasting about 30 minutes. During this interview, theoretical and applicative knowledge of the student will be verified. In particular, it will be evaluated the ability to move within the different topics and the achievement of an organic knowledge of the topics presented during the course.

Teaching tools

Frontal lectures

Laboratory practises

Seminaries held by food sector experts

Guided visits to production and processing plants

Office hours

See the website of Massimiliano Petracci