Assessing the quality of organic and conventionally-farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

The biometric and nutritional traits of European sea bass from organic or semi-intensive conventional production systems at two commercial sizes (small and medium) were compared. The analysis included a total of 80 specimens. The biometric traits and the texture were not affected by the rearing system, whereas they changed significantly with fish size. The fillet fatty acid profile varied significantly, both with rearing system and sea bass size, depending on the fatty acid profile of the diets. The ratio of n − 3 to n − 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher (p < 0.001) in organic than in conventional fish (1.60 vs. 0.54) and in small than in medium-sized sea bass (1.15 vs. 0.98). Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) successfully classified fillets according to sea bass size in both fresh-minced and freeze-dried samples (90% correct classification), whereas it only classified organic vs. conventional sea bass fairly well (65–75% correct classification) for freeze-dried fillets.