Blue-green algae can cause off-flavors in farmed catfish, leading to costly harvesting delays. How can USDA-ARS eliminate these off-flavors?
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) seeks to identify methods or technologies capable of reducing or eliminating instances of off-flavor in farmed catfish raised in ponds. The Protecting the Natural Flavor of Catfish Challenge will award a total prize purse of $60,000 for the most compelling approaches for preventing or eliminating these off-flavors which cost farmers millions of dollars each year.
Exposure to certain varieties of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can cause undesirable changes to the flavor of farmed catfish. This off-flavor delays the harvest for roughly 50% of catfish ponds each year in the United States. Annually, this delay alone can cost catfish farmers millions of dollars in lost revenue and expenses to maintain the fish until flavor quality returns.
USDA-ARS scientists, as well as industry experts, have worked for decades to find new solutions for this problem. While methods to combat off-flavor in catfish have been identified, they are only partial solutions, requiring repeated treatments to reduce off-flavor occurrence, and providing no guarantee of successfully eliminating off flavors. Frequently, preventative treatments are not applied; when off-flavor is detected, harvesting of the pond is delayed as the farmer begins the treatment process and waits for flavor quality to be restored.
The USDA-ARS seeks to identify methods or technologies capable of reducing or eliminating instances of off-flavor in farmed catfish raised in ponds. Innovations that address pre-harvest management techniques or pre-/post-harvest treatments are of interest. Proposed approach must reduce off-flavors in catfish to a level that is undetectable to professional flavor testors.
Awards:- $60,000
Deadline:- 16-12-2020
