A judge at
Sydney’s Royal Aquaculture competition, part of the annual Royal Easter
Show, believes Australia may one day ride on the prawn's back. John
Susman made the claim during yesterday’s prawn and oyster judging. He
said that Australia produced some of the best quality oysters and prawns
in the world.
 |
Australian consumers
are rapidly increasing their consumption of seafood says industry
spokesperson. (Photo: T Engo) |
Mr Susman described aquaculture as a
rapidly expanding sunrise industry. "It's a vital industry for
Australia. Aquaculture is clearly the way of the future for seafood.
After all seafood is the sexiest protein in the centre of the plate,''
he continued. "It's gaining popularity, Australian consumers are rapidly
increasing their consumption of seafood.”
He said Australia was producing some of
the highest quality product in the world but was not producing anywhere
near the volumes produced by other regions. He saw a big future for the
prawn industry. "It (the prawn) seems to have held its pride of place in
the marketing of Australia as a tourist destination so there's no reason
why it can't deliver that commercially.''
The reputed aphrodisiacs, oysters, were
also on the competition menu. Size was not important when it came to
choosing Australia's gold medal oyster. "A small-size oyster or a
big-size oyster, I'm not looking at it on the size,'' said judge and
restaurateur Stephen Hodges. "It's all going to be the presentation of
it, the shape and flavour.''
Approximately 24kg of prawns and 312
oysters from all over Australia were scrutinised by 10 industry experts
in search of the country's best product.
Oysters were judged on flavour, visual
appeal and condition, while prawns were judged on flavour, visual
appeal, texture, shell hardness and “peelability'', aroma and freshness.
Mr Susman said the annual competition
provided an impartial third-party benchmark by which the industry could
judge itself. "The exercise is very exciting for the industry because it
does give us a third-party independent accreditation for what we're
doing,'' he said. "Seafood is generally not graded in that regard
officially, there are no government regulations as such.''
South-East Asia produces the greatest
quantities of farmed prawn and shrimp. This year, prawn farmers in
Australia will produce 3,500 tonnes worth AUD 55 million and providing
1,000 jobs nationwide. In NSW, the aquaculture industry is worth more
than AUD 30 million. Australia's gold-medal prawn and oyster will be
announced tomorrow. |
