Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation Maximising revenue from your prawn harvest Carl Paulo Innovative Food Technologies

2 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Project No. 2010/707 Loss minimisation in farmed prawns through improvements in storage life and colour

3 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Project Overview Project officially started as of September 1.Shelf life extension of cooked chilled prawns Improve the keeping quality to 14 days Achieved through natural antimicrobials and novel packaging 2.Colour retention during frozen storage of cooked prawns Extend frozen storage quality up to 12 months??? Maintain colour grades above 8 on the APFA colour chart

4 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Shelf life extension of cooked chilled prawns Isolate specific spoilage organisms Screen natural antimicrobials on ability to retard SSO growth Trial plant extracts, commercial products and packaging treatments on efficacy Identify suitable packaging that promote shelf life Our approach

5 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Identification of Specific Spoilage Organisms Are SSO region specific? 2 farms from Far North Qld 2 farms from Mid Coast Qld 2 farms from SE Qld Crystal Bay

6 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Identification of Specific Spoilage Organisms What we have done Crystal Bays, Far North and SE Qld farms Duplicates from each farm Frozen prawns SSO have been isolated In the process of identification What’s Next Mid coast farms Chilled prawns Natural antimicrobial screening

7 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Colour retention during frozen storage What we have done so far Colour and Astaxanthin method development Glaze natural additives prelim trial Glaze uptake trials

8 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Colour and Astaxanthin method development Laboratory method developed. Currently optimising Able to identify different forms of astaxanthin Method has limiting factors. Exploring alternatives General idea of the degradation rate of astaxanthin Future analyse legs as opposed to body Rate of astx degradation. Unglazed prawn body

9 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial Monodon and Crystal Bays Trialled 5 different treatments A. GlazEx Plus (Commercial product) B. GlazEx (Commercial product) C. Tea extract with bioactive honey D. Kakadu plum powder with bioactive honey E. Ascorbic acid with Sorbitol powder and Sucrose F. Control (No Glaze)

10 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial - Methodology Blast freeze prawns °C Spray with glaze solution Blast freeze 5 min Repeat Frozen storage -20°C ~10% glaze except Control with no glazing Prawns sampled 2, 4, 6 and 8 months later

11 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial - 6 months

12 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial - 8 months

13 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial - 8 months

14 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial SampleTotal Astx (ug/g) Control legs6.4 Treat A legsn/a Treat B legs43.5 Treat C legs34.6 Treat D legs39.7 Treat E legs34.9 Thai legs39.0 SampleTotal Astx (ug/g) Control body3.71 Treat A body2.59 Treat B body4.93 Treat C body2.49 Treat D body4.76 Treat E body5.49 Thai body8.53 ~11 months old Thai prawn Astaxanthin concentrations after 6 months Imported Thai prawns (11 months old) included as comparison

15 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze natural additives prelim trial - what’s next Pick best treatments –Ascorbic acid & GlazEx Plus –Have since identified another commercial glazing product –What other commercial products are available? Include water glaze Quantify astaxanthin over storage life

16 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze uptake What variables impact glaze uptake? Thaw prawns 4°C Weigh ~1kg into prawn baskets and -20°C Dip to glaze Blast -30°C then re-weigh

17 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze uptake - Results

18 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze uptake - Results

19 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze uptake - Results

20 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 Glaze uptake Recommendation ONLY for optimising glazing conditions Each processing practice is different Factors identified that heavily influence glaze uptake: –Dipping time –Dip solution temperature (chilled is much better) –Salinity (fresher is better) –Grading size

21 © The State of Queensland, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, 2010 What next? Milestone deadline 8 February 2011 Deliverables: –Current production practices and issues –Colour and Astaxanthin method developed –Qld map of specific spoilage organisms –Begin frozen storage trials for current season –Packaging options reviewed Questions ?