Matís' Department of Biotechnology is currently working on a project aimed at developing and researching various new protease mixtures from cod fillets for the purpose of using the mixtures for the production of hydrolysates (degraded proteins) and peptides from fish with very high antioxidant activity. Preliminary studies have shown that codfish enzyme mixtures can produce peptides with very high antioxidant activity, much higher than peptides obtained from the degradation of other common enzyme mixtures that have been investigated.
By adjusting the concentration and activity of key enzymes in the slag-derived protease mixture, the goal is to be able to control the production of hydrolysates and peptides to produce natural products with very high specific antioxidant activity. These products would be made from protein isolates isolated from unused raw materials (ridges).
The vision is that by the end of this project, large-scale production will begin and sales of various individual industrial enzyme mixtures made from cod liver that would be specifically marketed for the production of bioactive peptides. It is also expected that companies in protein processing in this country will use these unique enzymes for the production of natural antioxidants both for use in food but also market them as healthy food supplements with scientifically proven activity.
Matís - Prokaria's partners in the study are Norðurbragð hf., MPF Ísland, Iceprotein, University of Florida and the director of the study is dr. Hörður G. Kristinsson, Head of the Biochemistry Department at Matís Biotechnology - Prokaria.