Lobster offcuts recycled to create new ingredients

In a bid to reduce waste from the harvest and export of southern rock lobsters, researchers are working to find innovative ways of using leftover shells and parts.

Researchers from Flinders University and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) are working with Adelaide-based lobster exporter Ferguson Australia to help the company generate new products from lobster offcuts. So far, the team has developed prototypes including lobster essence oil, protein powder and chitin.

Flinders PhD candidate Trung Nguyen, who is working on the project, said the lobster oil and protein powder could be used as functional ingredients in a range of foodstuffs, from stock bases to crackers, while the chitin could have a wide range of applications, from food and cosmetics to biomedicines, agriculture and the environment.

“The lobster-derived chitin, chitosan, could be used as a food preservative, a wound dressing to speed up the healing process or as a surgical glue to bind cuts and wounds,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen said the extraction of lobster compounds uses cutting-edge advanced manufacturing processes such as supercritical CO₂ extraction and microwave-assisted extraction, which produces a product that is of high purity while also being cost effective and environmentally sustainable.

Flinders Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development Manager Raymond Tham said the products, once refined, will be marketed to potential partners in the food industry.

“There’s a real opportunity to make sure none of our high-value seafood is ever wasted, and that they are used to produce products that currently do not exist on the global market,” Tham said.

Ferguson Australia Managing Director Andrew Ferguson said the creation of new products from leftover lobsters would enable the company to reduce its waste management costs and improve environmental and resource sustainability.

“These products will reduce the amount of lobster waste sent to landfills, which has a high cost for both the business and environment, but will instead have a higher retail value and longer shelf life to reach wider export markets,” Ferguson said.