High Pressure Shelling Of Shrimp and Quality Improvement

Shrimp is favorite seafood in the world. Shrimp shelling is very important for shrimp processing. However most of shrimp is still manually shelled in China, resulting in low efficiency, bad quality and low production rate of shelled shrimp. High pressure was used as a pre-treatment technique for shelling of fresh white-leg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei Boone) in this study. Fresh shrimp was treated by high pressure (HP) or freezing and thawing (FT) and then shelled manually. The shelling time, integrity, drip loss and color change of shelled shrimp were evaluated. Experimental results demonstrated that the integrity and production rate of shelled shrimp were significantly increased for test shrimp after appropriate HP treatment, the change in color of shelled shrimp was not obvious when pressure was at 200MPa or lower. Pressure at 200MPa for 3min holding time might be adequate for pressure pre-treatment of shrimp shelling. High pressure is an effective pre-treatment method for shrimp shelling.