Fish Processing Waste: A Promising Source of Type-I Collagen

Collagen is the most abundant protein of the animal kingdom. It has varied application in different fields such as pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmeceutical, etc. Among the twenty nine different types of collagen identified till date, type I is the most prominent one. Most of the marketed collagen is obtained mainly from the animal source which includes bovine and porcine skin and bones, chicken waste, etc. But due to its high cost and the onset of diseases such as FMD(Foot-and-Mouth Disease), BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and TSE, cheaper and safer sources of collagen have been probed for. Thus the role of marine source came in which has been acknowledged as a promising alternative collagen source owing to the advantages such as absence of zoonosis risks, lack of dietary constraint, easy availability and higher yields.

Fish processing waste is a major environmental hazard. It includes both the solid and liquid waste. The solid waste, which includes the remains of fish such as its head, skin, scales, fins, etc, discarded after the step of processing poses the foremost threat to the environment. Presently these offals are made use of as a source of value added products such as proteins, minerals, gelatin, bioactive peptides, fish oils, enzymes, biogas/biodiesel, amino acids, collagen, etc. Use of this waste for collagen production would not only save our environment, but also be the cheapest source of raw material. It is a potential source of collagen which has been proved from the research work carried out utilising the same. Thus, this review article summarises the work carried out to obtain type I collagen from the wastage of different fishes.