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By KAPP | Engineering the Cold Chain of the Future
Sustainability isn’t just about fuel usage or fishing quotas anymore. In today’s market, shelf life is a sustainability metric, and it’s one that the seafood industry can’t afford to ignore.
A recent independent study by Icelandic researchers at Matís made one thing clear: the way fish are chilled onboard directly determines how long they’ll last, and how much of each catch is truly utilized.
Using two identical trips on a 29-meter trawler, researchers compared fish chilled in:
- A 30-year-old RSW tank (like many still used in Alaska)
- A modern slurry ice system designed for rapid, uniform cooling
The results were hard to ignore:
- Fish chilled in slurry ice lasted at least 5 days longer
- Had better texture, appearance, and flavor
- Suffered less water loss and yield shrinkage
- Higher quality scores indicating greater market value potential
What This Means for Alaska
For vessels, processors, and communities relying on seasonal harvests, maximizing the usable life of your product isn’t just smart; it’s sustainable.
Let’s face it: fish that spoil early get thrown away, sold cheap, or turned into secondary products. That’s lost revenue and wasted resources.
Every day of shelf life you gain means:
- More market options
- Better logistics
- Lower waste
- Less pressure to rush product to port
Make Sustainability Pay Off
Modern chilling isn’t a luxury, it’s a competitive advantage. And it helps Alaskan fishermen, processors, and communities do more with every fish landed.
KAPP’s OptimICE® slurry ice system is already at work on vessels in Alaska, helping them:
- Improve cold chain performance
- Increase usable product yield
- Hit export specs with confidence
Let’s build a sustainable seafood future, one cold degree at a time.
This article is based on the: Pacific cod shelf-life experiment report – Effects of onboard slurry ice cooling and tub storage on quality parameters: 04_25_Slurry vs RSW - MATIS report final version.pdf