Catfish Gel Could Mean Fresher Shrimp

Catfish Gel Could Mean Fresher Shrimp

AG Illustrated

Although shrimp is the perennial seafood of choice in the U.S., the industry could be more profitable if not for a couple of technical problems in the processing stage.

The issues, which shrimp share with virtually all seafood products, are the short shelf life of fresh and frozen shrimp and the drip loss of frozen shrimp when thawed. Drip loss causes a 10- to 15-percent loss of liquid and a decline in quality.




An effective preservation technique that would keep fresh and frozen shrimp- both wild-caught and fa rm-raised—fresher longer and also reduce drip loss in the frozen and save industry millions of dollars.

Auburn biosystems engineering associate professor Yifen Wang has a study under way to evaluate catfish gelatin as a potential solution to the shrimp industry’s dilemma.

Catfish gel is a new value-added product that, in fact, Wang, fellow faculty member Oladiran Fasina and scientists at Tuskegee and Alabama A&M universities developed recently. The product is an economical, high-quality gelatin that is made from catfish skins and that offers the food and
pharmaceutical industries an alternative to beef and pork gelatins.

In the current study, Wang and collaborators will test several catfish gel/preservative formulations to derermine their effectiveness in extending shelf life and im proving quality when sprayed on shrimp or when shrimp are dipped into it during processing.

If successful , the produce would be a boon not only to the shrimp industry-which includes five west Alabama farm-raised-shrimp producers-but to catfish producers and processors as well.

source: http://blog.auburn.edu/faa/?p=354
Auburn University