Investigation of the changes in the amino acids content of shrimps and the suitability of such a change as a method for the routine assessment of their quality

The present work was undertaken to find a suitable objective quality control method for use in the crustacean markets and in similar situations. Two main types of objective methods used for fish are Available—these are the chemical methods measuring either the trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N) or the hypoxanthine (Hy) concentrations. However, the "K value" is a more simple method for evaluating the nucleotide degradation than the measurement of (Hy) alone, hence the "K value" was preferred in this work. The "Ornithine Equivalent", the separated ornithine and proline, pH, TMA-N and "K value" of pink (Pandalus montagui) and brown (Crangon crangon) shrimps were investigated. These different measurements were assessed as possible methods for the routine quality control of shrimps.