title: Quality of raw and smoked fillets from clinically healthy Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., following an outbreak of pancreas disease (PD).
abstract: Pancreas disease (PD) is a viral disease of farmed salmonid fish, which causes huge economic losses. Pathological changes in skeletal muscle, pancreas and heart are hallmarks of PD. Stakeholders in the fish-smoking industry have claimed that fillets from PD-affected Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., are of poor quality. We therefore examined harvest-ready, clinically healthy Atlantic salmon from a population of fish previously affected by PD. Histopathological changes in skeletal muscle tissues ranged from minor to severe. Fillet quality measurements showed that fish with severe skeletal muscle changes provided a paler raw fillet and a yellowish and harder cold-smoked fillet than normal. PD had no significant effect on fillet gaping, bacteriological quality or off-odour development during storage. An unexpected finding was a significant subendocardial fibrosis in 23% of the PD-affected fish. The latter may indicate susceptibility to stress-related heart failure.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway. torunn.taksdal@vetinst.no
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taksdal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiik-Nielsen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Birkeland
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dalgaard
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mørkøre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005511:Food Handling; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology*; D010182:Pancreatic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D020317:Salmo salar / Q000502:physiology*; D017747:Seafood / Q000592:standards*; D012906:Smoke
chemical_list: D012906:Smoke