Surimi wastewater management

Wastewater has been the biggest problem for the surimi industry. Thus, it is essential to have long-term strategies for surimi wastewater treatment, including recovery / reduction of the proteinous compounds, as well as the costs of such an operation. In the meantime, the recovery of myofibrillar proteins from surimi wastewater that is then put back into primary products has been an economic gain for the industry. There has also been a gradual shift in the strategies to incorporate other proteins such as sarcoplasmic proteins and bioactive compounds into the surimi product. However, the recovery of these compounds from wastewater is not profitable yet. It is necessary to clearly define goals for by-product recovery, as they directly determine the technology to be employed and the costs for operation and maintenance. A technology that is adopted to recover solids for human consumption will be more expensive than the one developed for producing animal feeds or landfills. One strategy may include a combination of different technologies for achieving different goals in order to develop the most cost-effective and profitable surimi byproduct utilization operations as well as reducing the amount of various organic compounds.