Post Harvest

Primary Processing Techniques for Philippine green mussels

The Philippine green mussel is one of the important maricultured bivalve species in the country in terms of production volume. However, safety and quality issues hamper full utilization of this resource. The post harvest aspect of the industry remains under-developed and products for local consumption are mostly limited to its live and/or fresh form.

This project will take into considerations the results of the depuration project, follow the depuration protocols of Project 1. This project will deal on the development of primary processing techniques to improve the quality of depurated/relayed mussels and it will take into consideration packaging of mussels for bulk transport, and storage prior to its further processing. Activities will include evaluation of the effects of different packaging materials (for bulk transport), pre-treatments, time and temperature on quality changes during handling and storage of mussels. Effects on sensorial, physic-chemical, microbial and nutritional attributes will be investigated.

Project Leaders

Benefits

• Increased survival of mussel during live holding and transport
• Improved quality and longer shelf life of locally produced mussel
• Availability of high quality primary processed mussels for local-processors and export market

Target Beneficiaries

• Mussel farmers
• Traders
• Processors
• Consumers

Location

• Iloilo
• Capiz
• Palawan
• Samar