Hydrolyzed proteins serve as a critical nutritional support widely utilized in the food industry to enhance food quality. This process enables the creation of formulations rich in essential nutrients across various market segments, including food and beverages, specifically targeting malnourished patients and individuals facing digestive or absorption issues. Additionally, hydrolyzed proteins play a pivotal role in addressing allergies, improving animal feed, and developing nutritious solutions for pets, offering easily digestible proteins and nutritional enrichment.
The enzymatic hydrolysis process alters the biological properties of proteins through a gentle procedure that operates at moderate temperatures, maintaining near-neutral pH levels. This ensures high specificity and efficiency, resulting in shorter amino acid chains and well-defined peptides, as we'll explore further. Moreover, hydrolysis enhances both the nutritional and functional characteristics of food by modifying its chemical, physical, and immunological properties.
But what exactly is enzymatic hydrolysis of proteins? How is this process executed? Why is it significant in animal feed formulation? These questions guide our exploration into the inclusion of hydrolyzed proteins in diverse organisms' diets.
Understanding the Hydrolysis Process
To appreciate the numerous benefits of hydrolyzed proteins, it's crucial to first understand how the process unfolds. While various techniques exist for formulating enriched proteins, the enzymatic approach proves to be the most practical due to its simplicity and efficiency without requiring stringent chemical procedures.
The enzymatic hydrolysis process follows a sequence of steps: raw materials of animal origin are collected, milled, and then subjected to a water-free purification process. Subsequent adjustments to pH, temperature, and reactor pressure precede the introduction of controlled enzymes for a set duration, followed by an inactivation phase. The final stages involve filtration, centrifugation, separation, sterilization, drying, and packaging, culminating in hydrolyzed protein as the final product, destined for various industries (SOARES, 2019, p. 22) [1].
As noted earlier, transforming raw materials into hydrolyzed protein involves several stages designed to yield a product low in minerals and fats (PASUPULEKI et al., 2010) [2] while being nutritionally enriched to meet specific demands.
Specifically, this process aims to break down protein molecules into smaller amino acid chains, producing low molecular weight products that facilitate nutrient absorption, making them more digestible and easier to pass through the intestinal membranes of animals (AKSNES et al., 2006) [3].
We've seen how hydrolyzed proteins serve multiple sectors within the food industry. Moving forward, we’ll focus on their application in animal nutrition, particularly in farming sectors where balanced and nutrient-rich diets are increasingly vital for improving digestion, health, and cost-effectiveness for producers while supporting environmental sustainability.
According to Aquaculture Brasil (2021) [4], hydrolyzed protein derived from animal co-products is obtained through the refinement of offal and intestines, becoming a sustainable solution by maximizing the use of animal by-products like those from poultry and other species. This practice reduces waste and minimizes environmental pollution, especially in aquaculture.
"Utilizing the raw materials from animal processing industries is a way to offset the social and environmental impacts caused by this sector by consciously managing its residues" (SOARES, 2019, p. 20) [1].
Challenges in the Food Industry
It’s important to address the challenges faced by producers in the animal nutrition sector, particularly concerning investments in feed and ingredients, which require significant attention and resources across all domains, whether in aquaculture, pig farming, or pet feeding.
To grasp the scale of nutritional challenges in farmed animals, as highlighted by the United Nations Organization’s Agenda 2030 [5], the aquaculture industry is expected to match deep-sea fishing production. This growth presents a challenge for producers who must ensure adequate feeding and meet the diverse nutritional needs of various species.
As emphasized by Soares (2019), intensifying aquaculture practices requires balanced diets that improve animal physiological conditions and provide superior zootechnical performance. Producers face the challenge of finding cost-effective feeds with proven nutritional value that cater to evolving requirements, enhancing animal health and performance.
Through research and innovation, answers to these questions regarding the use of enzymatically hydrolyzed proteins and their benefits were discovered by BRF Ingredients. They developed a balanced formulation rich in bioactive peptides, scientifically validated, aimed at multiple sectors, including Chicken Hydrolyzed Proteins (CPH) BioActio Health & Performance, a topic we’ll revisit shortly.
Why Choose BioActio Hydrolyzed Proteins by BRF Ingredients?
Designed to enhance animal feed performance, BioActio Hydrolyzed Proteins are functional foods created via the enzymatic hydrolysis process mentioned above. This process generates smaller amino acid chains known as bioactive peptides, offering numerous benefits to animals.
BRF Ingredients offers a range of formulations tailored to meet animal nutritional needs while adding value to products, such as the BioActio Health & Performance Chicken Hydrolyzed Protein and the BioActio Health & Palatability Chicken Liver Hydrolyzed Protein. These products boast high protein content, excellent digestibility, and palatability, sourced from fresh feedstock and by-products of poultry and swine. They also feature low molecular weight, balanced amino acids, and a profile of bioactive peptides.
In terms of digestibility, for example, BRF Ingredients’ Hydrolyzed Proteins, like the BioActio Health & Performance, typically exhibit an apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) exceeding 90% in tilapia, dog, and cat diets.
The functional properties of the BioActio line stand out, ensuring enriched food and feed with improved intestinal morphology, enhanced disease resistance, better animal health and survival rates, and strengthened immune systems, leading to antibody production and antihypertensive effects.
What Are Bioactive Peptides in Proteins?
Bioactive peptides result from a chemical reaction using water to split a molecule into two or more parts. When applied to proteins, this process breaks them into smaller amino acid chains, improving nutrient and vitamin absorption while optimizing the usage of essential amino acids in the animal body.
These peptides reach the animal bloodstream more directly and efficiently, conferring benefits such as increased feeding efficiency, accelerated species growth, improved animal physiology through immune and nervous system stimulation, stress reduction, and alleviation of various pathologies.
Thus, the bioactive peptides generated by BioActio Health & Performance Hydrolyzed Proteins possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihypertensive, and immunomodulatory properties and contribute to improving feed conversion ratios.
Conclusion
In light of the insights presented, the benefits of using hydrolyzed proteins are scientifically substantiated, supported by cited research and BRF Ingredients’ innovative formulations. These formulations enhance zootechnical performance across aquaculture, pig farming, and pet feeding by incorporating BioActio Hydrolyzed Proteins into animal diets.
Enzymatic hydrolysis not only supports environmental conservation by reducing waste and repurposing animal byproducts but also adds value to producers, ensuring better cost-to-income ratios in farm operations.
Explore the advantages of the Enzymatic Hydrolysis process and the BioActio Health & Performance and BioActio Health & Palatability Hydrolyzed Proteins.
References
[1] SOARES, M. Evaluation of chicken and pork protein hydrolysates in shrimp white Pacific larvae nutrition. Thesis (Doctorate in Aquaculture) – Center for Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina. Florianópolis, pp. 99. 2019. Available at: https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/215699/PAQI0572-T.pdf?sequence=-1&isAllowed=y.
[2] PASUPULEKI, V. K., DEMAIN, A. L., editors. Protein hydrolysates in biotechnology. New York: Springer Science, p. 11–32, 2010. Available at: Protein Hydrolysates in Biotechnology | SpringerLink. Accessed: Aug. 2022.
[3] AKSNES, Anders et al. Inclusion of size fractionated fish hydrolysate in high plant protein diets for Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua. Aquaculture, [s.l.], v. 261, n. 3, p.1102-1110, Dec. 2006. Elsevier BV. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2006.07.038. Accessed: Aug. 2022.
[4] Aquaculture: Chicken Hydrolyzed Protein in Tilapia Larvae and Fry Feeding. Available: https://www.aquaculturebrasil.com/noticia/214/proteina-hidrolisada-de-frango-na-alimentacao-de-larvas-e-alevinos-de-tilapia. Accessed: Aug. 2022.
[5] FAO – United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018. Available at: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I9540EN/. Accessed: Aug. 2022.
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