Is the black part on the shrimp head roe or feces?

Shrimp is a seafood with high nutritional content, containing many vitamins and minerals. Many people like to eat shrimp heads because they think that place has a lot of shrimp roe. Many others throw away the heads because they think that it is the part that contains waste, eating it is not good for health. Whether the black part on the shrimp head contains roe or feces has always been a controversial question and to end that, we need the role of "referee" of experts.

Does the black part on the shrimp's head contain roe or feces?

Nguyen Duy Thinh, former lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology and Food, said: The body structure of a shrimp consists of two main parts: the head and the body. The head of a shrimp is a hollow cavity with a hard shell, containing important parts such as the nervous system, digestive system, excretory system, and respiratory system.

The shrimp digestive system consists of two parts: the stomach and the intestines. The shrimp's stomach is located right in the head cavity, which is where food is stored when the shrimp hunts. Shrimp are omnivorous, their food is quite diverse, including insects, algae, parasite larvae (helminths), and rotting animal and plant carcasses.

Thus, shrimp stomach contains a lot of dirt, parasite eggs and microorganisms that are harmful to human health. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the stomach when eating shrimp.

The second part of the digestive system is the intestine - a small tube that runs along the upper back. Food after being digested in the stomach will be pushed along the intestine, waste will come out of the opening of the intestine. When processing shrimp, you need to remove this part of the intestine to remove shrimp feces.

With the question of whether the black part on the head of the shrimp contains roe or feces, you probably have the answer. The shrimp head does not contain feces, but you should not eat the whole part but remove the shrimp's stomach, which contains dirt and pathogens. The shrimp's stomach is black so it is easy to identify, and can be easily separated when cleaning the shrimp before processing.

You should not throw away the shrimp gourd, because it contains a very valuable part, which is the shrimp roe. Shrimp roe has high nutritional value and is delicious, with a rich, fatty taste and a characteristic aroma. Shrimp roe is located right next to the head shell, next to the stomach. When not cooked, shrimp roe is quite liquid, gray-black in color, but when cooked, it solidifies and turns reddish-brown.

If you remove the stomach and cut off the shrimp head, it is a waste. Although the amount of meat in the shrimp head is not as much as the body, it is still significant, usually accounting for 25% - 30% of the shrimp head's weight. To remove the stomach while still keeping the roe and meat intact, you should skillfully peel off one side of the shrimp head, take out the stomach and put it back to keep the shrimp intact with both head and body, both beautiful and nutritious.

However, the above method can only be applied to large shrimp. For small shrimp, you should leave the head attached to the body to cook, and when eating, remove the stomach at the head and remove the intestines on the back of the shrimp, avoiding eating the dirt in its digestive system.