Researchers with the Shanghai Fisheries University have worked out a new way to raise fish that could make them taste better on your plate.

After two years of lab experiments, the university's life sciences college director Leng Xiangjun discovered that fresh water fish grow finer and smoother flesh if the adults are raised in slightly salted water.

The fish are fed a mix of soybean, plants and cotton to replace grass or ordinary feed. That helps to increase protein content and also acid glutamic, a major component of gourmet powder.

A machine that tests food's texture reported that the new method raised a fillet's elasticity index 10 to 30 percent over those grown naturally.

"The secret of our new methodology lies in the feed," Leng said, adding that a lack of high-quality feed was a major problem for domestic fish farmers.

The city has more than 200 feed manufacturers, with an annual output of 1.15 million tons. However, the country imports one million tons of high-quality fish meal to meet demand.

Researchers said an insufficient feed supply and business interests led to some fish farmers adding banned materials to accelerate growth.

In November, turbot sales in the city were halted after turbot farmers were found feeding their stock antibiotics that were believed to be carcinogenic.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )