Action research on off-flavour of tilapia

Flavour quality of tilapia was identified during the SEAT scoping surveys as one of the constraints in increasing tilapia exports and sustaining it. As European consumers have mentioned in interviews, flavour of fish is important to them, among other reasons. The way they eat fish is different from Asians, where they will just add some salt, with not much sauce or curry, so the flesh has to be of good quality and flavour. There is no room even for a small hint of off-flavour. Thus for action research, SEAT is looking at some ways of producing on-flavour tilapia to meet demand for exports. At the moment, only about 10% of tilapia produced in Thailand is exported, as there is a high domestic demand. Local tastes for tilapia have developed over the years, with supermarkets and wet markets offering a range of tilapia products, both live and frozen. Processors and exporters are aware of the lack of good quality tilapia to fill their orders, as sometimes they encounter off-flavour in the raw material. There might be a lack of awareness among producers of the importance of producing on-flavour fish for taste-discerning consumers. Thus a focus group discussion/workshop has been planned among selected groups of tilapia farmers from both freshwater and brackishwater areas, to understand their perspectives and aspirations in their tilapia operations, to determine their level of awareness about off-flavours, and to give them a voice in terms of their involvement in achieving production of on-flavour tilapia.

The first workshop was conducted end of June in Nakhon Pathom. This was attended by both men and women, and they actively participated in sharing their opinions on various topics such as: what makes a good quality tilapia, which quality equates to better price, what the consumer (esp European) wants, market situation, and tilapia production systems in other countries. 


Further workshops and field trial activities will engage not only producers but also other actors in the value chain, such as input providers, processors and brokers.