A study on the fish oil extraction from yellowfin tuna heads by hydrolysis method using Protamex enzyme was carried out. The parameters of hydrolysis process, fishoil yield and chemical quality of tuna head oil were determined. The study results showed that a considerable amount of oil can be extracted from yellowfin tuna heads. | Journal of Fisheries science and Technology No. 4 - 2018 FISH OIL EXTRACTION FROM YELLOWFIN TUNA HEADS BY ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS METHOD Nguyen Thi My Huong¹, Bui Truong Bich Ngan¹ Received: ; Revised: ; Accepted: ABSTRACT A study on the fish oil extraction from yellowfin tuna heads by hydrolysis method using Protamex enzyme was carried out. The parameters of hydrolysis process, fish oil yield and chemical quality of tuna head oil were determined. The study results showed that a considerable amount of oil can be extracted from yellowfin tuna heads. The suitable parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis process for recovering fish oil from yellowfin tuna heads were the water/material ratio of , Protamex concentration of , hydrolysis temperature of 55°C and hydrolysis time of 1h. High quality of the yellowfin tuna head oil was obtained from enzymatic hydrolysis. This study suggested that the yellowfin tuna heads generated from tuna processing industry could be utilized as a good source for oil recovery. Tuna head oil could be used as a valuable ingredient both in food and aquaculture feed. Key words: Enzymatic hydrolysis, fish oil extraction, oil recovery, yellowfin tuna head. I. INTRODUCTION Tuna is a valuable source of food and plays an important role in the economy of many countries. Tuna generally is processed as raw fish flesh and marketed as loins. Viet Nam tuna products are exported to the ., EU, Japan, ASEAN and other markets (VASEP, 2016). A large amount of by-products consisting of head, bone, viscera, skin and dark muscle is generated from the tuna processing industry (Herpandi et al., 2011). Tuna by-products are perishable due to their high protein and fat contents. Increasing environmental pollution has emphasized the need for better utilization of tuna by-products. Therefore, using the tuna head to recover fish oil is very important to reduce environmental problems. The tuna head oil is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty .
