Production of a low-cholesterol shrimp using supercritical extraction

A low-cholesterol shrimp was produced using supercritical extraction. The processing sequence included freeze drying, cholesterol extraction and rehydration. The shrimp was freeze dried, kept under vacuum until an experimental central composite rotatory design was applied using Response Surface Analysis for the supercritical extraction process. Three variables at five levels each were tested during the experiment (pressure, volume and temperature). After the extraction procedure, various rehydration and cooking conditions were applied to obtain a processed product with characteristics similar to those of the natural shrimp. Two sensory analyses were performed: one which compared the attributes of fresh shrimp with those of the freeze-dried and rehydrated products, and another one which compared the acceptability between fresh shrimp and low-cholesterol shrimp after freeze drying, super-critical extraction and rehydration. Under the conditions of 310 bar, 1875 L of carbon dioxide and 37C, it was possible to obtain a low-cholesterol shrimp with acceptable organoleptic properties.