The Cost of Off‐Flavor

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Abstract
Off‐flavor problems in farm‐raised catfish Ictalurus punctatus increase production costs and pose inventory management problems for catfish farmers. Multiperiod mathematical programming techniques were used to test the effect of 16 different off‐flavor scenarios on expected net returns above variable cost with and without cash flow restrictions. The patterns of off‐flavor incidence had less effect on farm profits than whether or not fish are off‐flavor during certain key months of the year. To be feasible, systems designed to purge off‐flavor from catfish would need to cost less than $0.05 to $0.06/kg (if cash flow is not a consideration) or $0.04/kg to $0.25/ke (with cash flow considerations).