Fish sedation

Fish should be sedated in a manner which gives optimal product quality as well as being acceptable from an animal welfare standpoint.

This is regarded as acceptable from the point of view of animal rights. Sedation using only cold water is not considered an acceptable method of slaughtering or sedating fish.

To attain good product quality it is important that the fish are calm both before and during slaughter as the induction time (the time before the sedation takes effect) leads to a flight reaction which affects the development of rigor mortis, the pH value and muscle quality.

The traditional method of sedating fish by use of cold water only, is increasingly being replaced by the use of a CO₂ based method, a significant improvement in terms of animal welfare and a method that improves the final product quality.