California Caviar Co imports "no-kill" caviar "massaged" out of sturgeon
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS April 9, 2014 -
A new method, being practiced at a small farm in Loxstedt, Germany, called Vivace GmbH, involves first viewing a sturgeon's eggs by ultrasound. If they are deemed ready, a signaling protein is administered to the sturgeon several days before the egg harvest.
This releases the eggs from the membranous sack in the belly cavity. At that point, the eggs can be pumped from the belly with gentle massaging. The process can be repeated every 15 months or so throughout a sturgeon's lifetime, which may last decades.
Some are skeptical that no-kill caviar will take off. Geno Evans, a caviar producer in Florida, said the method produces "mushy" eggs, although Vivace gets around that with a chemical treatment. This treatment improves the texture, said Deborah Keane, owner of the California Caviar Company, in Sausalito, Calif., which is currently the only American importer of Vivace no-kill caviar.
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