Chemical, physical, microbiological and quality attributes studies on River Nile crayfish

In Egypt, red crayfish has become an important new food source, a cheap and popular source of aquatic food, replacing the expensive marine crustaceans. Chemical, physical, microbiological and quality attributes of red crayfish samples were determined. Results show that total weight of inedible parts was 84.64% of the live weight. Value of raw fresh crayfish yield was higher than that boiled. Cooking loss tail meat for boiled crayfish was 33.88% of meat. Moisture, protein and ash contents of raw fresh red crayfish (%) were slightly higher than those of boiled, while fat, fiber and carbohydrates contents (%) were higher than those of raw fresh. Crayfish is considered as a good source for minerals. Amino acids content for raw fresh crayfish was relatively high and the reverse was recorded for boiled crayfish. In conclusion, the boiled red crayfish had better quality attributes than that of raw fresh. Keywords: Red swamp crayfish, chemical composition, physical properties, microbiological aspects and quality attributes