A South African seafood processor has found significant improvements in the quality and shelf life of its prawns following its move to use Prawnfresh Plus as a processing aid.
Prawnfresh is being used by an increasing number of seafood processors, fishermen and shellfish farmers as an effective and safe alternative treatment to sodium metabisulphite for the prevention of ‘blackspot’ or melanosis in prawns, a natural process that discolours the shell after harvesting. Although blackspot is harmless, it does affect the appearance of the prawns, which in turn can make marketing difficult.
Garon Foods supply one of the leading retailers in South Africa with quality
value added deli seafood and prawns, which are fast becoming one of the company’s top sellers. Over the past year the South African market has taken a real interest
in prawns, which has boosted the business.
A spokesman for Goran Foods said: “We are continuously looking at new ways to improve the quality of our product. When we came across Prawnfresh Plus for the first time, we were truly impressed at the results found.
”We have done various trials and have really found Prawnfresh Plus to add value to some of our prawn (Penaeus vannamei) products. We are currently processing cooked and raw prawn and have done trials on both.
“We found that the Prawnfresh increased the shelf life of the raw prawns (which we soak and pack raw for the retailer) by about 30%. Upon cooking the product, we also noticed that the tails have not turned black due to oxidation (Melanosis). We are currently using Prawnfresh Plus for this product.”
John Davis, managing director of Xyrex Ltd, the manufacturer of Prawnfresh, said: “We are delighted that Goran Foods is pleased with the performance levels of Prawnfresh, which boosts the shelf life of prawns and delivers to the consumer a better quality product.”