Abstract
Gelatin was extracted, for the first time, from the meat of Tunisian marine snail by the acid extraction process with a yield of 3 g/100 g. Snail meat gelatin (SMG) had high protein (88.62%) but low fat (0.77%) content and contained a high number of imino acids. SMG showed high band intensity for alpha- and beta-components and some degradation peptides. The absorption bands of SMG in Fourier transform infrared spectra were mainly situated in the amide band region (amide I and amide II). The gel strength of the SMG (103 g) was lower than those from other marine species reported in the literature. SMG exhibited a low foam capacity (75.44%) but a high emulsifying stability (38.12 min) and WHC (120%). It can be concluded from the present study that snail meat is a prospective source to produce gelatin in good quality with desirable functional properties. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.