Abstract:In this paper, semi-continuous lactic acid fermentation was employed in shrimp waste fermentation to recover protein and chitin. The variation of TMAOase activity and the formation of formaldehyde with the change of pH during the fermentation were investigated, and the mechanism of formaldehyde formation production preliminary was explored. It was showed that the activity of the TMAOase achieved the highest when the pH of fermentation broth decreased to 4.5~5.0. The change of formaldehyde content coincided with the change of TMAOase activity during the five batches of semi-continuous fermentation. This illustrated that the activity of the TMAOase was the main reason for the formation of formaldehyde. The highest point of formaldehyde content was 30.79 mg/kg in the fifth batch.
