Extrusion Processing of Fish Muscle

Extrusion processing is widely used in the food industry for restructuring starchy and proteinaceous ingredients. A variety of extruded food products are produced by manipulation of composition and process variables. In the seafood industy 30-80% of the fish catch, depending on species, is not utilized for human consumption. Extrusion technology provides a method to utilize fish muscle recovered from by-products, by-catch and other underutilized fish. The application of this technology to process fish muscle has been demonstrated. However, a systematic study of the physicochemical changes occurring in food material during extrusion and the interrelationship between process variables, reaction kinetics, and rheology of fish muscle proteins needs to be undertaken before the full potential of the technology can be realized.