1.4.2008
Matís' report has been published, which contains the results of the project Blue whiting as a target food which the Fisheries Research Institute (now Matís) worked on in collaboration with the University of Iceland and the University of Florida. The project, which was funded by Rannís, investigated whether quality proteins can be extracted from fish, which can be used in the same way in the food industry as milk and soy proteins.
Milk and soy proteins have wide uses in the food industry and have long been used successfully. It is known that fish contains quality proteins and it is therefore interesting to investigate whether fish proteins have comparable properties to the aforementioned proteins. The project focused on the processing of protein from blue whiting, which until now has mainly been melted in fishmeal. The purpose is to multiply the value of the underutilized products.
The aim of the project was to answer the research question: What bioactivity can be obtained from peptides extracted from blue whiting with enzymes? Bioactivity is a prerequisite for the use of blue whiting as a target food. Isolated blue whiting proteins were used as raw materials. The study showed that degraded blue whiting proteins have bioactivity. However, the sensory properties of products did not prove to be good enough and yields were low. This was especially so due to the difficulty of obtaining fresh blue whiting as a raw material.
Margrétar Geirsdóttir, an expert at Matís Biotechnology, and another author of the report says that the project has acquired a great deal of knowledge in the field of enzyme degradation and bioactivity properties of protein products and that this knowledge will be useful to Icelandic industry and scientists in future research in proteins, enzymes and bioactivity. the value of Icelandic products. She points out, among other things, that this is an international novelty, i.e. that in the project, the interaction of hydrolysis with enzymes and processing properties and bioactivity was investigated and the interaction of hydrolysis of fish proteins isolated with a new method and their bioactivity was investigated. This, has not been done before, and therefore this is an innovation, according to Margrét.
Matís report Blue whiting as a target food