Lobster steaming

Funded Activity Summary

The western rock lobster fishery prides itself on being one of the best-managed and demonstrably sustainable seafood resource in Australia. It is a substantial industry. Forecasts of catch for the 1999/00 season are 14,000,000kgs. The product is almost all exported, and a potential average selling price of $30.00 suggests direct revenue to Australia of over $400 million next year.

Accordingly, any modest improvements in the production processes or in customer perceptions can lead to substantial extra revenue to Australia.

Innovation in the industry has been slow due to high entry costs into the processing section of the industry and the exposure of processors the volatile beach prices and overseas demands and prices. This combined with the strong presence of processing co-operatives has minimised the attractiveness of the industry to new participants.

Without external assistance such as NSC, the potential benefits to the industry of changing production systems may not be realised for some time.

The sensory evaluations will seek to identify whether the consumers prefer the steamed product or are indifferent between steamed and traditionally cooked product. A marked preference for the steamed product would indicate the possibility of premium product positioning and special branding. Consumer indifference would suggest the commercial benefits could arise only from better yields in the production processes. A consumer preference for the traditionally cooked product would suggest the change in techniques would not be successful.

Objectives:
1. To identify commercially relevant differences between Western rock lobster cooked by steam processes and Western rock lobster cooked by traditional boiling methods, with particular reference to differences of appearance, taste, processing yield, micor biological safety and responses to freezing and chilling.
2. To identify optimal steam processing techniques.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 25-01-2000

End Date: 20-12-2001

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $32,000.00

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Commercial Species | Food processing | Innovation | Marketing | Sustainability

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