ABSTRACT
Processing of seafood generates tremendous amounts of waste. Recent estimates reveal discards from the world sheries exceed 20 mt equivalent to 25% of the total production of marine capture sheries. Trawl sheries for shrimp and demersal n- sh account for over 50% of the total estimated discards, representing approximately 22% of total landings.1 Processing discards consisting of heads, exoskeleton, cephalothorax, and carapace of crab, shrimp, and lobster constitute a gigantic proportion of marine wastes. The rising global shrimp aquaculture adds signi cantly to this waste and has become an environmental problem. Utilization of seafood processing waste can be a major solution of environmental pollution besides providing economic bene ts. Since these wastes are rich sources of industrially important ingredients, there is an immense potential for the marine industry to bioprocess them to generate products that are of practical applications.2-6 This chapter discusses the utilization of marine processing waste, particularly chitin and chitosan from shell sh wastes and their uses in food and health products.
