Comparison of chitosan produced from shrimp shell as a mayonnaise stabilizer with commercial chitosan and CMC

Chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is found in crutacean, arthropod, cell walls of some fungi, fish shell and shrimp shell. The objective of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of chitosan (extracted from shrimp shell) as a stabilizer and thickener and to compare its textural effects with commercial chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in mayonnaise. In this study chitosan was produced by chemical method from shrimp shell. The percent recovery of chitosan from shrimp shell on wet basis was 17%.Protein and ash contents and degree of deacetylation of the produced chitosan were determined and compared with commercial chitosan. The effect of different concentrations of chitosan on rheological properties of mayonnaise in comparison with commercial chitosan and CMC were investigated. The emulsion stability and viscosity of mayonnaise samples at different chitosan concentrations (0.1,0.2 and 0.3%) were determined. At 0.3% concentration the highest viscosity of mayonnaise was achieved. Also the results showed that mayonnaise containing 0.2% of producedchitosan can have the same viscosity as commercial mayonnaise (containing 0.2%CMC). Sensory evaluation by panelists proved that in term of texture, there are no any significant differences between the mayonnaise samples containing different concentrations of produced chitosan and commercial chitosan. This investigation demonstrated that chitosan can be used in mayonnaise and other similar emulsion products as a new stabilizer and thickener agent.