{"id":17301,"date":"2021-04-27T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=17301"},"modified":"2021-04-14T14:22:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T18:22:38","slug":"are-microbial-enzymes-vegan-what-about-protease-and-pepsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/04\/27\/are-microbial-enzymes-vegan-what-about-protease-and-pepsin\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Microbial Enzymes Vegan? What About Protease and Pepsin?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nJanuary 2021, The Vegetarian Resource Group received an inquiry from a food\nscientist asking if the microbial enzyme protease is vegan. It’s produced by\nthe bacteria Bacillus subtilis<\/em> on a wheat or soy growth media\n(fermentation material\/substrate). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Here is our response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\ncategorizing any ingredient as vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, or as\n“typically” one of those three, it is important to consider each\ningredient separately. This is especially true when it comes to microbial\nenzymes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     You’re right to take the substrate medium\ninto account. Cane sugar is problematic because of the possibility of bone char\nprocessing. Whey, L-cysteine, casein, caseinates, or albumen are possibilities\nas medium components as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Some other components added to media may\nbe problematic, too. (E.g., lecithin from egg or collagen\/gelatin from a mammal\nor fish – although unlikely, it’s a good idea to ask). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The strictest vegans would ask about\nanimal-derived genetic material. Has any been engineered into the microbial\ngenome to produce the enzyme? Or is the enzyme truly a bacterial<\/em>\nprotease (as compared to, for example, porcine trypsin produced by<\/em>\nbacteria through genetic modification)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Lastly, verifying that separation and\npurification of the protease from the bacterial cells and medium occurred solely<\/strong>\nby non-animal-derived chemicals and\/or mechanical means is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are\nanimal-derived enzymes like the protease, pepsin, used in food today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRG\nreaders may be interested to know that there are several companies designing\nmicrobes to make proteases that have typically been sourced from animals like\npigs and cows. The microbes have been genetically engineered to produce enzymes\nand other proteins used in foods, beverages, and dietary supplements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     On a commercial basis, animal-derived enzymes\nare not<\/strong> commonly used today, but they are approved for food use by the\nUnited States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and, so, could be used.\nPepsin, a type of protease, is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     According\nto the FDA, \u201cPepsin<\/a> is an enzyme preparation obtained from the\nglandular layer of hog stomach. It is a white to light tan powder, amber paste,\nor clear amber to brown liquid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Creative\nEnzymes<\/a>, an enzyme company, states this information about pepsin on\nits website: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPepsin\ncan be used in the food industry. Pepsin is a component of pancreatic curd that\ncondenses and twists during cheese production. Pepsin can be used to modify\nsoybean protein and gelatin and provide whipping qualities. It can also modify\nthe plant protein used in non-dairy snacks and make pre-cooked cereals into\ninstant hot cereals. Pepsin can also be used to prepare animal and plant\nprotein hydrolysates for seasoning food and beverages. In the leather industry,\nit is used to remove hair and residual tissue from leather and to recover\nsilver from abandoned photographic film by digesting the gelatin layer in which\nsilver is stored.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     When pepsin is used to make food and\nbeverages, it serves as a processing aid and, as such, does not have to be\nlabeled. Consumers who want to know if an animal-derived pepsin was used in a\nfood or drink must request this information directly from companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Most manufacturers today wish to avoid\nanimal sources (especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic), present clean\nlabeling on their packaged foods, and\/or manufacture consistently pure, plentiful,\nand sustainable products. For these reasons, they are turning to microbial\nenzymes instead of animal enzymes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Many of the most common enzymes used today\nas processing aids or in supplements are called digestive proteases<\/em> that\nbreak down proteins. Pepsin may be used to prepare plant-based protein\nhydrolysates<\/a> and bioactive peptides<\/a>.\nBoth are widespread in packaged food, beverages, and dietary supplements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Clara Foods<\/a>\nrecently introduced to the market a yeast-derived pepsin using microbial\nfermentation technology. The company is also set to offer a chicken-free egg white<\/a> and is poised to launch\nsimilar products manufactured in the same way this year. According to the\ncompany, all of their products have the same texture, taste, or functionality\nin food and beverages as their animal-derived counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contents of this posting\nand our other publications, including The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended\nto provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a\nqualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient\ninformation from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a\nstatement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be\nmade. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for\nyou. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS In January 2021, The Vegetarian Resource Group received an inquiry from a food scientist asking if the microbial enzyme protease is vegan. It’s produced by the bacteria Bacillus subtilis on a wheat or soy growth media (fermentation material\/substrate).      Here is our response: When categorizing any ingredient as vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17303,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301\/revisions\/17303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}