Aquatic animal foods are a rich source of protein and currently supplies 17% of all the protein consumed in the world. Fish is also a good source of easily digestible protein, and its amino acid profile usually contains most of the essential amino acids which is required to humans for balanced diet.
A 100 g cooked serving of most types of fish and shellfish provides approximately 18–20 g of protein, or about a third of the average daily recommended protein intake.
The amount of protein in fish muscle is usually between 16 and 21 %, but values lower than 16 % or as high as 28 % are occasionally found in some species. Proteins are important for growth and development of the body, maintenance and repairing of worn out tissues. Fish is known to be a source of protein rich in essential amino acids (lysine, methionine, cystine, threonine, and tryptophan). Eighteen amino acids were identified in tuna species, and glutamic acid was the most predominant.
Aquatic animal foods have a higher protein content than most terrestrial meats. In addition, aquatic protein is highly digestible and rich in several peptides and essential amino acids that are limited in terrestrial meat proteins, as for example methionine and lysine.
In addition to the high nutritional value, fish proteins also have good functional properties such as water-holding capacity, gelling, emulsification, and textural properties for the products such as fish mince and surimi, the water-holding capacity and the gelling properties which determine the textural attributes of the products are important quality parameters.
Fish: Rich source of protein
