Sustainable Valorization of Seafood Processing By-Product/Discard

Abstract

Seafood is one of the major food products for human consumption and is an important part of the diet in many countries. However, huge amount of non-edible by-products (viscera, head, skin, scales, bones, etc.) are generated from the seafood processing operations annually. Generally, some of the seafood by-products are utilized as low-price ingredients through the mass transformation into a single product such as fish meal, fish oil, fertilizer/manure, fish silage, fish sauce, and protein hydrolysates, but the main bulk is dumped at sea/river or landfill, creating both disposal and pollution problems. It has been noted that these by-products contain valuable components including bioactive peptides, collagen and gelatin, oligosaccharides, fatty acids, enzymes, calcium, water-soluble minerals, vitamin, carotenoids, chitin, chitosan, biopolymers. These seafood-derived components have potential application in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, environment, biomedical, and other industries. Other than that, they are promising source for biofuel production. Thus, present chapter summarizes and highlights the need for an efficient by-product/discard reduction strategies and by-product/discard valorization that can provide viable and profitable options for seafood by-product/discard processing.