Nutritional Profiling and the Value of Processing By-Products from Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata)

Abstract

Fish processing industries generate a large volume of discards. In order to fulfil with the principles of a sustainable circular economy, it is necessary to maintain aquaculture by-products in the food chain through the production of high-value biomolecules that can be used as novel ingredients. In this study, we try to give value to the gilthead sea bream by-products, evaluating the composition and the nutritional value of the muscle and six discards commonly obtained from the fish processing industry (fishbone, gills, guts, heads, liver, and skin), which represent ≈ 61% of the whole fish. Significant differences were detected among muscle and by-products for fatty acid and amino acid profile, as well as mineral content. The discards studied were rich in protein (10%–25%), showing skin and fishbone to have the highest contents. The amino acid profile reflected the high quality of its protein, with 41%–49% being essential amino acids—lysine, leucine, and arginine were the most abundant amino acids. Guts, liver, and skin were the fattiest by-products (25%–35%). High contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (31%–34%), n-3 fatty acids (12%–14%), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) + docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (6%–8%) characterized these discards. The head displayed by far the highest ash content (9.14%), which was reflected in the mineral content, especially in calcium and phosphorous. These results revealed that gilthead sea bream by-products can be used as source of value-added products such as protein, oils, and mineral supplements.

Monthly variation of growth, biochemical composition, fatty and amino acids patterns of gilthead sea bream ( Sparus aurata ) in offshore cage systems under brackish water conditions in the Black Sea

“…The earlier studies with gilthead sea bream farmed in the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas, ∑SFA, ∑MUFA and ∑PUFA values were higher than 18, 19 and 24% respectively (Atalay, 2011; Erkan & Özden, 2007; Fountoulaki et al., 2005; Lenas et al., 2011; Senso et al., 2007). It was reported that total SFA, MUFA and PUFA values of sea bream were substantially affected by the feed content (Pateiro et al, 2020; Roncarati, Meligrana, Laus, & Spaterna, 2019; Vasconi, Caprino, Bellagamba, & Moretti, 2017) in the Mediterranean Sea. Since there is no literature on the fatty acids composition of gilthead sea bream in the Black Sea, data on fatty acids were compared with the different fish species cultured in the Black Sea.…”

Protein Recovery from Underutilised Marine Bioresources for Product Development with Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Bioactivities

“…In contrast, heads and frames generated in the seafood processing industry often contain a considerable amount of residual meat or muscle, i.e., up to 20% of the lobster weight including body, breast, and leg meats [92]. As a result, 43.5% protein is found in lobster heads such as Australian Southern Rock lobster while this content of heads and frames of finfish such as catfish are 47.3% and 32.5% [93], and 12.9% and 16.4% for gilthead [65]. Such quantities demonstrate that heads, shells, and frames are resourceful and inexpensive bioresources for protein production and recovery, but economic feasibility is likely restricted to species with high protein contents in the discarded materials, because different feedstock are likely to demand utilization of differing extraction, denaturation and temperature regimes, making centralization of processing difficult to achieve.…”

Optimization of the Enzymatic Protein Hydrolysis of By-Products from Seabream (Sparus aurata) and Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), Chemical and Functional Characterization

“…However, growing interest by consumers in convenience products has produced an increase in fillet production [ 3 ]. By-products of seabream and seabass account for around 60% and 50% respectively of total weight [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], therefore a significant amount of processing waste can be expected in the near future.…”

“…This biomass needs to be handled to avoid environmental problems, increasing at the same time resource efficiency to contribute to a sustainable fish supply. Seabass and seabream by-products contain significant amounts of high-quality protein rich in essential amino acids, and fat high in polyunsaturated fatty acids [ 6 , 7 ], making them suitable substrates for valorization. In particular, the application of proteases allows one to disgregate the material into a solid phase rich in mineral, an organic phase rich in fat and an aqueous phase with a high content of soluble protein, peptides and free amino acids [ 8 , 9 ].…”