Shellfish Processing and Preservation

Book excerpt: Shellfish is a broad term that covers various aquatic mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms that are used as food. They have economic and ecological importance and have been consumed as food for centuries. Shellfish provide high quality protein with all the dietary amino acids essential for maintenance and growth of the human body. Shellfish are a major component of global seafood production, with shellfish aquaculture rapidly growing in recent years. There are many different processing methods used across the world. Shellfish are very perishable foods and must be preserved just after catching or harvesting. This makes the preservation of seafood a critical issue in terms of quality and human health. To date there have been a number of books on seafood processing and preservation, but all of them have been mostly focused on fish. Shellfish Processing and Preservation is the first reference work to focus specifically on shellfish, providing comprehensive coverage of the production methods, biological makeups and preservation methods of all major shellfish species. Individual sections focus on crustaceans such as shrimps and prawns, crabs and lobsters plus molluscans including mussels, scallops and oysters. Cephalopods such as squid and octopus are also covered in depth. For each species processing and preservation methods such as chilling, freezing, canning and curing are examined, plus the important safety aspects specific to each shellfish type. Shellfish Processing and Preservation is an essential publication for any researchers or industry professionals in search of a singular and up-to-date source for the processing and preservation of shellfish.