A major part of the farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) produced
in Norway is traded as bled and gutted whole fish packed
in ice. The fish weight is within the extreme limits of about
2–9 kg where the white muscle typically contains 10–20% of fat
and 60–70% of water. The seasonal variation in body temperature
(seawater temperature) varies from 4 to 20 C. According to regulations,
the core temperature of fish at packing must be less than
4 C. To achieve this goal, chilling in refrigerated seawater (RSW)
tanks (0.5 to 4 C) is commonly used in conjunction with live
chilling (15–60 min), exsanguination (15–30 min), or storage after
gutting (buffer tank). At most processing plants, at least two of
these tanks are used in the slaughter line. After packing of bled
and gutted salmon, about 20 kg per styrofoam box, typically 25
w/o (or more) of crushed ice is added before the boxes are loaded
onto trucks and transported to the market on the same day.