TRACEABILITY OF FISH: INFLUENCE OF DOMESTICATION LEVEL

TRACEABILITY OF FISH: INFLUENCE OF DOMESTICATION LEVEL AND SIZE IN THE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF PORTUGUESE MEAGRE (Argirosomus regius)
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Milena P. Chaguri , António Marques , Ana Luísa Maulvault , Sara Costa , Amparo Gonçalves ,
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Maria Leonor Nunes , Léa Silvia Sant’Ana .
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Centro de Aquicultura da UNESP, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, 18484900 Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil
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Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, Avenida de Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa – Portugal.
Traceability is the ability to trace the history, application or location of a particular product and
may be related to their origin, history, processing, distribution and location after production.
Among the different issues related to fish traceability is the need to search for chemical and
physical methods that are able to distinguish the different fish species, their geographical origin
and production method: farmed or wild. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of
size and domestication level in the chemical composition and fatty acid profile of wild and
farmed Portuguese meagre meat, as tools to trace this specie. Specimens were divided into
four groups: farmed large (FL), wild large (WL) (approx 2kg), farmed small (AS) and wild small
(WS) (approx 0.6kg). The size and domestication level influenced the fat content and fatty acid
profile. Fat values were higher in farmed than wild fish, this variation being closely related to the
intake and food availability. Farmed fish showed lower of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty
acids (PUFA) and higher content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and n-6. The
percentage of MUFA were FL>FS>WL>WS, respectively. WL showed a higher content of
saturated fatty acids. WS showed higher level of the fatty acids EPA and ±DHA than farmed.
Our findings show that fatty acid profile and fat can be used to trace meagre origin and size.
Financial Support:CAPES/FCT