Ultraviolet irradiation and gradient temperature assisted autolysis for protein recovery from shrimp head waste

A novel autolysis method using ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and gradient temperature was investigated to efficiently recover proteins from the head of the shrimp Penaeus vannamei. The proteolytic activity of shrimp head subjected to 30 W UV irradiation for 20 min was increased by 62%, compared with that of untreated samples. After irradiation, the enzymes remained active across a wide range of temperatures (45–60 °C) and pH (7–10). An orthogonal design was used to optimize autolysis condition. After 5 h autolysis, protein recovery from the UV-heat treated samples was up to 92.1%. These results indicate the potential of using UV irradiation in combination with gradient temperatures to improve recovery of proteins from shrimp head waste.