Effect of Different Pre‐Treatments on Shell Peeling of <i>Litopenaeus vannamei</i> and Changes of Muscle Quality Under Refrigeration

Shelling is a vital procedure in shrimp processing. This study demonstrated how different shelling methods affected shrimp muscle quality during refrigeration. Results showed that the microstructure of the frozen (F) and enzyme-treated (E) groups was damaged, while the slurry ice (SI) group remained unchanged compared to the control (CK). During storage, all groups experienced significant decreases in muscle elasticity, hardness, Ca²⁺-ATPase activity, and sulfhydryl value, along with increases in TCA-soluble peptide levels, surface hydrophobicity, TBARS, and TVB-N. After six days of storage at 4°C, significant differences emerged between F and E versus CK, but SI remained similar to CK. At the end of storage, new protein bands emerged in group E, and circular dichroism analysis showed that the decrease ratio of α-helix content in these groups was higher compared to CK. In short, shrimp muscle pretreated with SI exhibited superior integrity, with less damage and better quality during storage. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Pretreatment before shelling can improve shelling efficiency. Our results demonstrate that slurry ice treatment causes less damage to shrimp muscle. Furthermore, storage experiments confirmed that this treatment does not promote deterioration during storage. These findings provide theoretical knowledge to support the selection of appropriate processing methods in shrimp production.