Sydney Fish Market has launched the Australian Seafood Quality Index app, which provides seafood buyers and restaurateurs with a digital guide to seafood shelf-life.
The new app, officially launched today by Sokyo head chef, Chase Kojima, has been developed to assess 10 seafood species from catch to consumer. Users complete a checklist on several attributes of the whole fish, including appearance, odour, and texture.
The scores for each category are combined to generate a Quality Index score, which provides an indication of the remaining shelf-life for the product.
The Quality Index assists in the management of seafood products for food service and retail industry, and is applicable from the point of harvest through transport, auction, and distribution and sale.
Mark Boulter, risk and compliance officer, Sydney Fish Market, told Inside FMCG, the app was developed to present data in a user-friendly way.
“With the rollout of smartphones it just seemed logical to go down the road of an app that could be used on a phone or iPad if you’re in a factory setting,” Boutler said.
“Where it is most likely to get good useable traction in our view is from two sections of the industry. The fish processing factories, that are producing product to tight specifications for customers, whether that’s food service customers or supermarkets. And, chefs and restauranteurs that want to set their own standards and dictate down the supply chain to suppliers,” Boutler said.
“The other area that will be interesting is to watch is if there will be any pick up in the supermarket supply chain. Supermarkets tend to be very specification driven so this is just another aspect that they can build into their specification. If the supermarkets are able to integrate this into their supply chains then that’s where it might start to have a knock-on effect to others, that’s what we’re looking forward to watching as it rolls out.”
Other features of the app include the ability to archive files for further assessment, upload images directly, and the capability to customise settings to meet individual operational requirements.
Jointly developed by the Sydney Fish Mark and The University of Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the free app was funded by the Australian seafood Co-operative Research Centre and the FisheriesResearch and Development Corporation.
