51A-25

M. G. MURPHY¹, D. I. Skonberg, K. T. Davis-Dentici, J. Briggs⁴, M. P. Dougherty, and M. E. Camire. (1) Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Maine, 5736 Holmes Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5736, (2) AFB, TAD, FED, U.S. Army NRDC, Natick, MA 01760-5018

JUSTIFICATION: The U.S. generates millions of pounds of crustacean processing by-product annually. Incorporation of by-product into an extruded snack food would have distinct benefits. It would increase utilization of secondary processing resources and create a snack food with added nutritional qualities.

OBJECTIVE: Objectives of this study were: 1) determine if crab processing by-product (CPB) could successfully be extruded into a high calcium, low fat, snack food, 2) evaluate chemical, physical and microbial quality of extrudates.

METHOD: CPB was finely ground, mixed with corn meal, potato flakes, and spices, and co-extruded on a twin screw extruder. Extrudates contained 3 levels of wet CPB (10, 18, or 25 %) extruded at 150 rpm, or oven dried CPB (10, 20, or 40%) extruded at 150 and 250 rpm. Duplicate sets of extrudates were subjected to proximate analysis, mineral analysis (calcium, phosphorous, sodium), pH, Aw, and total plate counts. Physical tests included bulk density, expansion ratio, and colorimetric analysis (L, a, b values).

RESULTS: CPB form (wet or dry) and percent incorporation had significant effects (P < 0.05) on calcium content, expansion ratio, bulk density, and pH of extrudates. Increasing CPB increased calcium content (5.4 to 52.4 mg/g) and pH (7.0 to 8.8). Decreasing screw speed increased expansion ratio and bulk density. Increased levels of CPB significantly decreased expansion ratio by 25% and 44%, and bulk density by 46% and 59% for wet and dry extrudates, respectively. L (light) and b (yellow) values decreased with increasing levels of wet or dry CPB. High processing temperatures (323º F max.) and low Aw resulted in undetectable microbial growth (<10 cfu/g) on extrudates.

SIGNIFICANCE: A low fat (< 1%), high calcium (5.43 mg/g) seafood flavored snack was successfully produced by co-extruding 10% wet CPB, corn meal and potato flakes. Further reformulation and sensory evaluation will be required in developing a commercially successful product.