الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Shellfish were easily collected and consumed by the primitive who had no developed tools or weapons, and were staple food supply for the ancients, who lived at coastal areas for many thousands years (Stansby and Dassow, 1963). Mussels contain adequate amounts of easily digested high quality protein, which could be used without supplementation in feeding the undernourished population. For example, El-Sherif (1981) found that gandofli (butter fish; Tapes decussatus) contained 14.818 protein. According to Salama (1983) Om El-kholool (wedge shell, donax trunculus) showed higher protein content than either ritsa (paracentrotus lividus) or the gandofli. This protein is more easily and completely digested as well as assimilated when compared with that of beef (Tressler and Evers, 1957; Leu et al., 1981; and Domah et al., 1984). Fresh and processed Egyptian mussel (El-Gandoli El-Mesalab, Tapes decussata) found to be rich in different essential amino acids (EAA) include lysine, methionine+ cystine, threonine, phenylalanine + tyrosine, tryptophane and arginine when compared either with beef protein or with the FOA reference protein (Hujita et al., 1972; Domah et al., 1984). Nevertheless, although mussels are of high nutritional value, they are not common in Egypt except for about 28 of the population who live at coastal areas, which limit the amount of mussels landing and restrict their contribution in solving the animal protein shortage in developing countries. This, however, might overcomed by processing. |