Hydrolyzed Collagen You Want?

Hydrolyzed collagen? Collagen has many forms but those forms can be categorized into the same family of protein. Basically, it is a type of protein found in mammals’ flesh and tissues which occurs naturally.

In order for collagen to be used for food or nutritional business, manufacturers break down it into smaller molecular weight forms among which hydrolyzed collagen is the most commercially mature one.

To produce hydrolyzed collagen, manufacturers use a chemical process called hydrolysate. Hydrolyzed collagen is, fundamentally, a form of polypeptide composite which possesses a molecular weight range approximately from 500 to 25,000 Da. By further hydrolysis, collagen can be denatured to gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen which are widely used in today’s food business.

Substance produced by hydrolysis is called hydrolysate. Hydrolyzed collagen is a hydrolysate of gelatin. The molecular mass and size of gelatin is deliberately decreased by hydrolysis by collagen manufacturers which keeps gelatin’s solubility in cold water in hydrolyzed collagen while the gelling property is no longer there anymore and its surface-active properties is also remained intact.

The procedures of collagen manufacturers to make hydrolyzed collagen are:

- Demineralization of raw collagen,

- Extraction of collagen to gelatin,

- Enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain hydrolyzed collagen,

- Ion exchange,

- Filtration,

- Evaporation,

- Sterilization

- Drying.

Application & Market Demand

In recent years, the market demand of hydrolyzed collagen has increased considerably and we see no sign of it slowing down. It happens not only here in China but also in EU, US, Oceania and all across the globe. iIhas become a valuable ingredient and been widely used in foods, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics industries and more. Empowered by today’s science and technology advancement, the application of hydrolyzed collagen has been broadened even further, especially after the curative effects of it has been discovered.

Collagen manufacturers source raw collagen out from cows, fish, pigs and chickens. The supply of raw collagen is consisted of 42.4% from pig skin origin, 29.3% from bovine hides, 27.6% from bones and 0.7% from other sources. This result is published by GEA in 2010.

Existing Process Technology and Research Work of Hydrolyzed Collagen Production

Collagen manufacturers produce hydrolyzed collagen using the same raw materials that are used for producing standard gelatin, which is a product obtained by partial hydrolysis and denaturizing of raw collagen. The majority source of raw collagen for collagen manufacturers are pig skin and bovine hide. The supply of pig skin and bovine hide is not always stable partially due to mad cow disease which will result in a ban on export of such materials from certain region. Also, religious reasons in some regions are causing shortage of supply in those materials. Thus, we see more collagen manufacturers start using marine or poultry source for producing and they claim marine source is safer than bovine or pig source for consumers.

There are two types of hydrolysis we used in making, chemical hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis. Lesser collagen manufacturers are using chemical hydrolysis nowadays as enzymatic hydrolysis by protease is much easier to control than chemical hydrolysis although there will always be a use of chemical hydrolysis among collagen manufacturers.

It can be made directly from pure collagen but it’s seldomly done because of its resistance. Pure collagen is resistant to most kinds of proteases which means it requires collagenases for its enzymatic hydrolysis and such method is quite expensive. The triple helix structure of pure collagen is so stable that its collagenous domain is hardly digested by enzymes while gelatin, on the other hand, is to be attacked by proteinase much easier. So, collagen manufacturers, frequently, adopt a combined method of chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis. Firstly, collagen manufacturers extract gelatin out of raw collagen using chemical hydrolysis and then hydrolyzed the gelatin with enzymes until the desired molecular weight is achieved.

Overall process for production by using combined method

Overall process for production by using commercial gelatin

Enzymatic hydrolysis method, besides its usage in making hydrolyzed collagen, is also widely applied in making food proteins for improving its functional and nutritional properties.

There are many types of enzyme can be used in hydrolysis of gelatin into hydrolyzed collagen but the most suitable type is protease class enzyme. Protease is commonly used in obtaining selective hydrolysis as there are specific peptide bonds adjacent to certain amino acid residues which can be hydrolyzed by this type of enzyme. Protease sources are commonly from animal and plant. There are studies on a number of commercial proteases which are used for producing hydrolysate. Among which alcalase from microbial source has been proved most effective for its broad specificity as well as its high degree of hydrolysis that can be reached in relatively short time under moderate conditions.

The molecular weight is the most important factors for hydrolyzed collagen to present the desired functional properties. The process control experience of collagen manufacturers plays an important role in the quality of their final product. FoodMate Co., Ltd. is one of the leading collagen manufacturers in China with over 30 years of experience. As an expert in the business, we look forward to working with clients all over the world.