World Aquaculture 51 strong standards required by large distributors and retailers, where extensive third party audits are a requirement. This is currently taking place in many countries in South America where products are being produced for companies such as Costco, Whole Foods and Walmart. Plants were forced to conform to rigid standards and ensure quality control departments were taking a larger role. We believe we will see an increasing number of companies implementing full DNA traceability inasmuch as it is becoming an asset in terms of the legal liability and responsibility.Therefore, as the public becomes more aware of value added and processed products, they demand these standards from their service providers and stores. Another challenge for the aquaculture industry is the consumer attitude toward farmed seafood. Several studies have found that consumers hold overall negative attitudes toward farmed seafood. Farmed seafood is associated with the possible presence of diseases in seafood farms, loss of flavor, mass production and animal welfare. The main reason is that the consumers perceive farmed seafood as something “wrong” and “unnatural”. No studies have thus far addressed the possible discrepancy between attitude and behavior in the consumers’ choice of farmed seafood. Despite negative attitudes toward farmed seafood, large amounts of farmed seafood are consumed every day. A number of factors may influence the attitudebehavior relationship: attitude strength /ambivalence but considerations such as convenience, value added, price, and availability might outweigh concerns and influence consumers to purchase value added products. Another concern is that the technical feasibility and market acceptability alone does not drive the investment required in new product introduction. There could be a discrepancy between what consumers think (bad attitudes toward farmed seafood) and what they actually do, buying it despite the negative feelings they expressed. Taste, distaste, anegative effect, nutritional value and quality or freshness are suggested to be the most important factors in forming consumers’ attitudes and preferences toward buying and consuming seafood. Price/cost, convenience, value added products, knowledge and availability of fresh products are suggested to be important factors in seafood consumption in certain sectors and age groups of consumers. Thus, the overall conclusion is that seafood is less driven by taste and preference and more by obligation and health issues, than is the case with other food products. However, the quality attributes that can be evaluated by the sensory attributes of touching, tasting, smelling and eating are useful guidelines for production. Both types of information, consumer attitudes and quality attributes, are essencial for the development of future quality products corresponding to the consumers’ quality evaluation. Sous vide Products In recent years one particular form of enhanced cook– chill technology, sous vide, has created immense interest in the foodservice and retail sectors. The term sous vide Fig. 5. Shrimp platter - a new strategy for value-added products Fig. 6. Shrimp sous vide product is used to describe the process of vacuum packaging food before application of low temperature (65-95º C) thermal processing and storage under chill conditions (0-3º C). Sous vide products range from portioned raw materials to complete gourmet meals. Typical seafood products include fish stews, fillet of salmon, shrimp with sauce. In addition, sauce, soup and dessert variations are being developed. The sous vide process is more than a catering technique and involves an exact, carefully designed and extensive
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