Songming Zhu1, Yong Yu1, Guanming Su1, Hosahalli Ramaswamy2

　　1College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, China

　　2Department of Food Science, McGill University, Canada

　　The advantages of high pressure (HP) technology have been widely accepted by researchers in domestic and overseas in recent years. However, research and development on HP processing of aquatic products didn't attract much attention in last century as compared to that of fruit and vegetable products. Since entering the new century, more and more research work has been done focusing on HP processing of aquatic products.

　　In this presentation, literature information on HP processing of aquatic products is analyzed. Related research work at Zhejiang University is reported, including HP processing for preservation, HP freezing and thawing, shellfish shucking, compound extraction and functional modification. The significance, applications and prospect of these research achievements are introduced and discussed.

　　HP can significantly enhance mussel shucking and shrimp shelling. The optimal processing conditions for mussel shucking were obtained at 300 MPa for 2 min. HP- shucked mussel meat had much better texture characteristics and longer shelf-life than that processed by traditional methods.

　　Experimental results indicated that HP processing can be used for extraction of Astaxanthin from shrimp shell at low temperature. The optimum conditions were determined at 210 MPa, 9.2 min, 32 mL/g in ethanol. The highest extraction ratio of Astaxanthin could be 89.46μg/g. The antioxidant activity of HP-extracted Astaxanthin is higher than that by ultrasonic and solvent extraction.

　　HP can depress freezing point of water in aquatic products. Pressure shift freezing can induce numerous, small and uniformly distributed ice crystals, resulting in a better quality. HP can depress melting point and reduce thawing process.

　　Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) is a relatively new technology which is low cost and easily generated and controlled. It could be an alternative for disinfection and/or preservation for aquatic products raw shrimp. It can also be used for decontamination of facilities in a food plant.