Manipulating muscle lipid and collagen: a potential tool to tailor themeat texture of cultured yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata

摘要

Yellowtail farming is an age old practice in Japan, and is well developed along the west coast. Historically, yellowtail farming can be traced back to 1928 at Shikoku Island. Yellowtail of aquaculture origin account for about three-fourths of the total yellowtail production in Japan, according to the 1999 annual report of the Japan Fisheries Agency. As with any industry, product quality and marketability are important concerns in aquaculture. In general, high quality is necessary to expand the market. The most important quality attributes of animal and fish products, from a consumer's point of view, are sensory attributes, such as color, texture and flavor. Moreover, flesh quality, in itself, is a very complex characteristic and it is difficult to reach a general agreement on the definition of flesh quality in fish and on which traits are most important. In the final analysis, it is the consumer's attitude to flesh quality that matters most. Yellowtail is traditionally one of the preferred fish species by Japanese consumers and mostly is eaten raw as sashimi. Because yellowtail meat is mostly eaten raw, meat texture is the most important sensory characteristic and remains a challenge to suit consumer preference.