2008/763 Shelf life and value adding of Australian oysters

By Tom Madigan

As with most seafood, shucked oysters have a relatively short shelf-life and economic losses across the supply chain from wastage associated with spoilage can be significant. Consequently, it is critical to understand spoilage processes and have the ability to assess the remaining shelf-life of the product to ensure that only fresh products are supplied to consumers. The main aim of this thesis is to determine the spoilage processes of Australian half shell oysters (Pacific and Sydney rock oysters) and evaluate the usefulness of rapid analytical techniques to determine remaining shelf-life and thus underpin the development of new value added oyster products.

The work undertaken has provided a detailed insight into the spoilage processes of half shell oysters during storage at 4 °C and has identified several novel methodologies to assess the shelf-life of oysters.