Substances causing the off-flavors in catfish are not toxic, but make the fish unmarketable. These flavors do go away with time, but increase the cost of production while the fish are being held over. Dr. Craig Tucker, Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station fisheries biologist, works with catfish pond water quality management. He said off-flavored catfish increase the cost of production 5 to 20 percent and is a major marketing problem. Off-flavor in catfish is any objectionable flavors in the meat.
Consumer satisfaction is jeopardized when off-flavored fish make it to market.
Holding fish in inventory while waiting for the off-flavor to leave fish increases the length of time needed to raise a crop. This interruption results in lost income from delayed harvest and from forfeit of income from missed sales because the producer cannot restock fish and grow the new crop. Dr. Chris Dionigi is also working on the problem with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service in New Orleans. Much of the off-flavor in catfish is due to the growth of algae in the ponds. Dionigi said Oscillatoria chalybea is the main culprit for off-flavor.