When you are about to sink your teeth into a delicious fish, you do not worry if the one that will be your dish died with little or much suffering. However, its taste could have as much to do with its freshness and the skill of the cook as it does with the way in which the wretched fish left this world. Research has just shown that the meat of fish that have died under great stress deteriorates earlier and tastes worse than that of those that were slaughtered with maximum speed.
The fact has to do with the stress that these animals undergo when they are killed, which is triggered when the process is not “humane” enough. This too long ailment increases the level of lipid metabolites in the fish and decreases the oxidative stability of its meat , which translates into a more bitter taste, a more rancid smell and a worse conservation during the long periods of freezing through which they pass. many of the captured specimens.
The scientists from the University of Florence and the CSIC’s Marine Research Institute who have carried out the work studied two groups of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The specimens of the first died of a sharp blow to the head; the second, by slow asphyxiation after removing them from the water, which is the most common method. After spending 75 days in the freezer, fatty acids like the healthy omega-3 began to break down in the trout that had died in great pain and stress. After 105 days, the meat of the suffocated trout had a worse taste and smell than that of those that had died without feeling it.
The authors suggest that a higher concentration of hydroperoxides – compounds that accumulate in the body during periods of stress – would be responsible for the fact. Hydroperoxides break down into aldehydes and ketones, organic substances related to the unpleasant odor and stale taste of stale fish. Scientists hope that this finding will lead to faster and more compassionate ways to euthanize fish, animals that don’t arouse as much empathy in us as pigs, lambs or cows.
