Proteases for protein hydrolysis
Some important properties of proteins and their application in foods are shown in the table.
| Property | Application |
| Emulsification | Meats, coffee whiteners, salad dressings |
| Hydration | Doughs, meats |
| Viscosity | Beverages, doughs |
| Gelation | Sausages, gel desserts, cheese |
| Foaming | Toppings, meringues, angelfood cakes |
| Cohesion binding | Textured products, dough |
| Textural properties | Textured food |
| Solubility | Beverages |
For the production of functional ingredients, the structure of protein is often modified using protein-splitting enzymes from Novozymes. Enzymes such as Alcalase, Flavourzyme and Neutrase can be used to improve the solubility, emulsification and foaming properties of proteins.
Enzymatic treatment offers advantages over chemical treatment. Chemical modification is not desirable for food applications because of the harsh reaction conditions, non-specific chemical reactions and difficulties when removing residual reagents from end-products.
Enzymes, on the other hand, have several advantages, including fast reaction rates at mild conditions and - most importantly - high specificity.
Over the years many different protein raw materials have been used with different objectives. Examples of extraction processes giving enhanced yields include the production of soya milk, recovery of scrap meat, cleaning of bones from slaughterhouses, recovery of gelatine and production of meat extracts (for flavour) and yeast extracts.
Functional food ingredients in the form of soluble protein hydrolysates from protein sources are also being produced using our proteases. The hydrolysates are used for nutritional purposes or for foaming and emulsifying.
Examples of such products are isoelectric soluble soya protein (ISSPH), egg white substitute from soya protein, emulsifiers from soya protein, soluble wheat gluten, foaming wheat gluten, blood cell hydrolysate, whey protein hydrolysates, casein hydrolysates, soluble meat proteins and gelatine hydrolysates.
Novozymes Biopharma US Inc., 77 Perry Chapel Church Rd., Franklinton, NC 27525. Tel: 919-494-3000; Fax: 919-494-3485.