The green-lipped mussel, Perna canaliculus, is an important aquaculture species in New Zealand. Live transport of this species has great potential to maintain its freshness and increase market share. Such approaches, however, involve various handling processes, which could elevate mussel stress and mortality thus generating unnecessary food waste. Effectiveness of different pre-treatments in reducing mussel metabolism, thus decoupling them from external shocks, has been evaluated. Mussel heart rate (HR) was measured at varying temperatures (4, 6, 8, 14 (control) °C), oxygen levels (0.5, 1, and 3, 8 (control) mgO2L-1) and anaesthetic concentrations (0 (control), 30, 40 and 50g MgCl2L-1). We found that 4°C and 40g MgCl2L-1 were effective in lowering the HR of the mussels by almost 100% and 97% respectively within two hours. Low oxygen levels only reduced mussel metabolism by 50%. Simulating mussel live transport showed that 40 gMgCl2L-1 reduced anaerobic metabolism (low succinic acid), accompanied by reduced energy metabolism from glycolysis, potentially due to inhibitory effect of higher concentration of citric acid, deduced via metabolomic analysis. Such pre-treatments now have potential to be applied to mussels and other shellfish to reduce supply chain food wastage, further improving the sustainability of aquaculture industry.