Study on the quality of beche-de-mer in trade and shrinkage of specimens during processing

The beche-de-mer industry in India is a cent percent export oriented industry being confined to south east coast in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu. Chemical quality of 180 trade samples of beche-de-mer of four sizes collected from the beche-de-mer curing centres of Ramanathapuram district was studied. Moisture ranged from 6.2 to 24.4% and sand content from 0.11 to 20.42% for all grades. Mean values of sand content are for grade 1=3.47%, grade 2=4.50%, grade 3=3.68%, grade 4=6.87%. Sodium chloride was almost constant for all grades at 5.7%. TVBN values ranged from 10 to 78.4 mg%. 44 laboratory samples of different grades were prepared following trade practice and examined for chemical quality. Mean moisture values are for grade 1=13.4%, grade 2=12.44%, grade 3=12.62%, grade 4=12.08% and mean values of sand are for grade 1=0.70%, grade 2=0.90%, grade 3=1.16%, grade 4=2.15%. The percentage of shrinkage of the animals ranged from 56% to 60% for dried beche-de-mer of 7.5 cm size and above.