Extraction of Chitosan From Fish Scale for Food Preservation and Shelf-Life Enhancer

With the growing demand for chitosan in a variety of applications and the drawbacks associated with crustacean shell-based chitosan, there is a need to look for alternative sources of chitosan extraction and production. Chitosan was extracted from the scales of red snapper ( Lutjanus johnii ) in this study. It was discovered that the concentration of solvent (HCl and NaOH) and temperature at various stages of the extraction process influenced the yield of extracted fish scale chitosan. The characterization result revealed that the commercial crustacean-based chitosan and the extracted fish scale chitosan had similar Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra, indicating that the two had similar functional groups. The degree of deacetylation (DDA) of the extracted fish scale chitosan was determined to be 76.9%, with the ash value, loss on drying, and solubility being 1.28%, 3.62%, and 88.8%, respectively. The extracted and commercialised chitosan were found to be similar in all characterization results. The potential of fish scale chitosan as a food preservative and shelf-life enhancer was then investigated in this study. Strawberries coated with chitosan were stored at various temperatures, and their physical appearance and moisture loss were recorded. When used in conjunction with traditional preservation techniques such as storage in a cool environment, fish scale chitosan was found to be capable of preventing up to 50% moisture loss in strawberries.