Effect of ultra-high pressure treatment on shucking and meat properties of red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkia)

•Crayfish meat yield and textural parameters increased as treatment pressure increased.•Thermal characteristics and microstructure changed as treatment pressure increased.•The optimum ultra-high pressure treatment for crayfish shucking was 200 MPa.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ultra-high pressure treatment (0, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 MPa, respectively) on shucking (crayfish meat yield) and meat properties (moisture content, thermal characteristics, texture properties, protein pattern and microstructure) of red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkia). Comparing to the control, the crayfish meat yield increased and the moisture content decreased for the samples with the high pressure treatments, however no significant difference was observed when the pressure above 200 MPa. The denaturation enthalpy (△H) of three endothermic peaks normally found at 50 °C, 65 °C, and 80 °C were all significantly shifted to lower value (p < 0.05) after pressure treatment. With the increase of treated pressure, the hardness, springiness and chewiness values were increased sharply at first and then decreased slightly but all higher than those of the control. Microstructure changed obviously with the increase of the ultra-high pressure. Overally, 200 MPa was considered as the optimum treatment condition for crayfish shucking without damage the food quality. The research would provide a reliable reference for ultra-high pressure application in shucking of red swamp crayfish.