ABSTRACT
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Proper utilization of aquatic resources has been an important topic for many decades, and recently the scope of the problem has become even clearer. It is evident that as we enter the twenty-fi rst century, our common food fi sh stocks are greatly exploited and there is a strong need to better utilize the by-products that remain after processing. Furthermore, there are a number of underutilized species that could be utilized for human and animal consumption, if proper economical
technologies were available. The amount of protein from aquatic sources that goes underutilized in this world is staggering. If one merely looks at processing by-products from fi lleting, these raw materials may contain about 10-20% of the protein in the fi sh, and in many cases are not utilized for human or animal consumption. A positive step in this direction is fi sh meal production for animal feed. However, given the proper methods, much higher quality and more nutritional end products could be produced from this leftover protein. A number of methods to better utilize raw materials of aquatic origin have been proposed, one of them being enzymatic hydrolysis to produce what is collectively called fi sh protein hydrolysates (FPH). In addition to fi sh, these hydrolysates can be produced from a number of aquatic sources. A large number of research publications on a number of different species and raw materials have been published in connection to FPH, but only relatively few processes have been commercialized. The main obstacle for commercial development of FPH into human food products has been process economics, nonuniformity of fi nal product, functional problems, and off-odorsfl avors that can commonly develop during this process [1]. Production of FPH for animal food and feed has been more successful, where fi nal product characteristics are not as stringent. The growing world demand for animal protein-based feed has helped this development.
