Muscle spoilage in Nephrops
Í verkefninu var unnið með humariðnaðinum á Íslandi við að greina orsakir og skilgreina lausnir til að draga úr vöðvadrepi í leturhumri. Slíkt vöðvadrep hafði aukist mjög á síðustu árum án skýrrar ástæðu. Í upphafi var gert ráð fyrir að líkleg ástæða vöðvadrepsins væri Hematodinium sýking í stofninum en slík sýking hefur valdið töluverðum áföllum í skoska leturhumarstofninum. Staðfest var að ekki voru tengsl milli Hematodinium sýkingar og vöðvadreps. Í framhaldinu varð því að breyta áherslum verkefnisins. Með ítarlegum formfræðirannsóknum á leturhumri tókst að tengja vöðvadrepið við ensímvirkni í hepatopancrea leturhumars. Byggt á þeim niðurstöðum var unnin skilgreining lausna til að draga úr tíðni vöðvadrepsins. Með bættri kælingu og meðhöndlun með ensímhindra hefur tekist að draga verulega úr vöðvadrepi í leturhumri.
This project was carried out in close association with the Icelandic Nephrops fishing and processing industry. The aim was to define reasons and propose solutions to reduce the muscle spoilage in Nephrops. Such muscle spoilage had increased significantly during the last few years without any know reason. The original hypothesis of the project was that there might be a correlation between infection of the parasite Hematodininum and muscle spoilage. Such parasitic infection has resulted in lower quality products in the Scottish Nephrops industry for the last decade. In the project it was confirmed that such infection is not the underlying factor for the muscle spoilage. This resulted in change of direction in the project. Based on morphological analysis of Nephrops it was observed that the muscle spoilage was correlated with enzyme activity in the hepatopancrea. Based on this observation it was possible to propose a code of practice to reduce the onset of the muscle spoilage. The code of practice is based on improved chilling and use of enzyme inhibitor during the storage of the Nephrops from catch to frozen product.