6 - Enzymatic methods for marine by-products recovery

Abstract

Today, with the introduction of refined enzyme technologies, the potential for taking advantage of value added molecules already present in fish and invertebrate by-products is very high. Employing enzymatic methods for protein or lipid recovery in fish or shellfish processing as an alternative to mechanical or chemical treatments, which often damage the products and reduce product recovery, renders it possible to produce a large and diversified range of products for different applications. Among products of interest are enzymes, lipids, chitin and chitosan, calcium, nucleic acid, pigments, and biologically active peptides from fish protein hydrolysates. Usually, the type of enzyme that is employed for extracting or solubilizing by-products may be directly associated with the nature of the molecules to be extracted. For example, proteases are utilized for the solubilization of the protein part of by-products, but in recent works, proteases were also used to enhance lipid extraction from fish tissues. This chapter discusses the recent literature on the possibilities of processes involving enzymatic biotransformation of fisheries and aquaculture by-products.