deterioration or mishandling. It was demonstrated that the appearance
of honeycombing was related to collagen degradation
(Frank et al. 1984). Mackerel was also shown to develop honeycombing
when poorly handled (Pan et al. 1986). Freshwater
prawn developed mushiness rapidly due to poor handling after
catch. It was also demonstrated that this mushiness problem was
related to collagen degradation (Nip et al. 1985). It should be
noted that all these problems are observable only after the fish or
prawn have been cooked and are only detected visibly. It is believed
that these problems developed before bacterial spoilage
of the fish. Analysis of collagen degradation is also tedious,
involving hydrolysis of the extracted collagen and analysis of
hydroxyproline.