Production of high quality halal gelatins through enzymatic process

• Main Authors: Jaswir, Irwandi, Saeed Mirghaini, Mohamed Elwathig, Mohd. Salleh, Hamzah, Siddik, Faridayanti, Hazahari, Noor Yuslida
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: TP248.13 Biotechnology
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/16613/1/Production_of_high_quality.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/16613/

Gelatin is one of the most widely used food ingredients. Its applications in food industries are very broad including enhancing the elasticity, consistency and stability of food products. Gelatin is also used as a stabilizer, particularly in dairy products and as a fat substitute that can be used to reduce the energy content of food without negative effects on the taste. Besides the food industry, gelatine is also useful in medicine, pharmaceutical and photographic industries. It was reported that 41% of the gelatin produced in the world is sourced from pig skin, 28.5% from bovine hides and 29.5% from bovine bones. However, factors such as the outbreak of BSE (a.k.a. mad cow disease) and increasing demand for non-mammalian gelatin for halal and kosher food markets have revived the interest in gelatin from fish raw materials. We have successfully extracted gelatins from the skin of four local marine fish, namely “kerapu” (Epinephelus sexfasciatus), “jenahak” (Lutjianus argentimaculatus), “kembung” (Rastrelliger kanagurta), and “kerisi” (Pristipomodes typus) by an enzymatic process using transglutaminase. Transglutaminase significantly reduced the duration of extraction and improved the properties of fish gelatins. The marine-based gelatins were comparable to the gelatins from other animals previously reported. They appeared snowy white in color with crystal-like and light texture. In terms of Bloom strength, the gelatin produced from “kerapu” was found to be the strongest one compared to others, with the Bloom value of more than 2000 g. The gelatins extracted in this study contained almost all essential amino acids, with glycine being the most predominant one. An FTIR spectroscopy study was conducted to differentiate between halal marine fish gelatin and non-halal pig gelatin.