Title: Guidelines for handling and preservation of fresh fish for further processing in Vietnam

Fish from catching has an important role in international fisheries as well as in developing countries like Vietnam. Therefore maintaining good quality in fish raw material is necessary. This project focuses on how to handle and preserve the fish especially during the process from catching the fish at sea to landing and transporting the fish to the processing plant. This project establishes guidelines for these activities. In addition some experiments were carried out to determine the insulation ability of different types of fish boxes used for storing fish and to validate the guidelines by evaluating the fish quality during ice storage in the worst and best scenario cases.

Based on data collected in Vietnam as well as fish preservation techniques in Iceland, problems in the handling and preservation process in Vietnam are pointed out and solutions presented. Choosing the appropriate fish containers like boxes or tubs is considered one significant factor contributing to fish freshness and quality. The Sæplast insulation plastic boxes or tubs are very suitable containers, which can possibly be used in the Vietnamese fisheries industry in the near future.