The effect of alkaline pH-shift processing on herring (Clupea harengus) protein oxidation, salt solubility and digestibility, has been evaluated. For the latter, herring mince and pH-shift produced herring protein isolate, both raw and heat-treated, were digested using a static gastrointestinal in vitro model. The pH-shift process resulted in drastically lowered protein salt solubility and increased lipid oxidation while protein carbonyl formation was unaffected. Yet, no significant differences in the degree of hydrolysis (DH) were observed between mince and isolates after completed gastrointestinal digestion, something which was confirmed by a similar release of proteinaceous material <3 kDa and similar free amino acid profiles. The polypeptide profiles of digested samples however revealed that two peptides (33 and 36 kDa) were present in larger amounts in the digested protein isolate compared to the digested herring mince. The results indicate that alkaline pH-shift processing had limited quantitative influence on the gastrointestinal digestibility of herring proteins despite its negative effects on protein salt solubility and lipid oxidation.
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