Q01118: Development of a method to detect gelatine in vegetarian products
Monday 20 October 2008
Background
Gelatine is a protein product derived from collagen, which is made from either from animal bones or skin. Gelatine is an extremely versatile, low cost food ingredient, which is used as a thickener, stabiliser and gelling agent in many food products, and also a clarifying agent in fruit juices and beer. Gelatine, along with other animal products, cannot be used in food items described as ‘suitable for vegetarians’.
The current method of measuring gelatine relies on the determination of hydroxyproline as a marker for gelatine. However, this amino acid is also present in the cell wall of some plant foods and therefore the current methodology is unsuitable for accurate determination of gelatine in plant food matrices.
This research project is to develop an improved selective extraction method to extract gelatine in plant based products, and forms part of a programme of work to enable the detection of animal ingredients in vegetarian foods.
Research Approach
Gelatine is a protein product derived from collagen, which is made from either from animal bones or skin. Gelatine is an extremely versatile, low cost food ingredient, which is used as a thickener, stabiliser and gelling agent in many food products, and also a clarifying agent in fruit juices and beer. Gelatine, along with other animal products, cannot be used in food items described as ‘suitable for vegetarians’.
The current method of measuring gelatine relies on the determination of hydroxyproline as a marker for gelatine. However, this amino acid is also present in the cell wall of some plant foods and therefore the current methodology is unsuitable for accurate determination of gelatine in plant food matrices.
This research project is to develop an improved selective extraction method to extract gelatine in plant based products, and forms part of a programme of work to enable the detection of animal ingredients in vegetarian foods.
Results and findings
The method using hot dilute acid and tannic acid to extract and recover gelatine selectively from plant glycoproteins and gum arabic was evaluated and optimised. The method was tested with a range of vegetarian foods and the recovery of gelatine as measured by hydroxyproline was around 85%. A SOP has been produced which will be available on Foodbase.