Chemical Compositions and Functional Properties of Protein Isolated from By-Product of Triangle Shell Pearl Mussel Hyriopsis cumingii

Hyriopsis cumingii is a freshwater mussel widely cultured in China to produce cultured pearls. However, after the pearls are harvested, the mussel is discarded. To make effective utilization of pearl production wastes, proteins were recovered from the pearl mussel meat using pH shift technology. The protein recovery conditions, chemical compositions, and functional properties of the recovered protein were investigated. Results show that the proteins could be well extracted from the meat by 5 volumes of alkali water (pH 11, 20°C, 1 h) followed by acidic precipitation (pH 5.2). The recovered product contained 94.7% of protein with high levels of essential and semiessential amino acids (48.9%). The most abundant essential amino acid was sulfur-containing amino acids (12.82%), followed by lysine (8.89%), phenylalanine (4.69%), and threonine (4.37%). Compared with soybean protein isolate and egg protein, the recovered protein had better water/oil absorption capability, better foaming ability, and similar emulsion capability. These results suggest that the protein isolated from the pearl mussel meat might be utilized as ingredients for the food industries.