Meat hydrolysates

Protein is a major component of animal tissues (e.g., skeletal muscle, mammary glands, liver, and the small intestine) and products (e.g., meat, milk, egg, and wool).

Meat flavour is a product of protein degradation and the greatest part of industrially produced protein hydrolysates is used to provide meat flavorants. In addition, hydrolysates include peptides that are claimed to be potential health enhancing nutraceuticals for food and pharmaceutical preparations.

Basically, there are ways to hydrolyse proteins:
*Chemical hydrolysis by storing acids or bases
*Microbial fermentation, especially autolysis
*Enzyme hydrolysis by use of pure proteinases

Protein hydrolysates may possess physicochemical characteristics and bioactivities not found in the original proteins, such as antioxidant activity and higher water-holding capacity. Bioactive peptides and protein hydrolysates can show surface-active properties owing to their hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups, thus promoting the stabilization of oil-in-water emulsions.

Generally, denatured and hydrolysed proteins have a good foaming ability due to the structural changes and unfolding of these hydrolysates, which can easily migrate to the air–water interface and be rearranged at the interface.

Protein hydrolysis of livestock and poultry by-products yields easily absorbable hydrolysates of interest for feeding weaning animals. Protein hydrolysates from poultry or sheep by-products obtained by autolysis could also be used in animal nutrition.

To date, protein hydrolysates have been applied to such diverse fields as medicine, nutrition (including animal nutrition), and biotechnology.
Meat hydrolysates