Executive Summary: Upcycling bovine co-products for sustainable protein

Summary of Project and Key Findings:
Bovine hide-face pieces are an obligatory co-product which must be rapidly channelled out of the production line. Owing to the lack of ‘food-grade’ further processing technologies available in NZ, the current best alternative for managing such co-products is landfill and rendering. This project investigated the feasibility of developing a scalable process to utilise beef hide/face pieces to produce a beef protein powder as a food ingredient for human consumption.

The investigation started the process development from a bench scale (1- 10 kg). Sample pretreatment methods, tallow by-product, protein extraction via protease hydrolysis were tested out for the selection of processing parameters and overall process protein yield. The best processing conditions were used in the intermediate scale production at 100 kg. Finally, the pre-pilot scale production using 300 kg hide material was run at food grade in Food Innovation Network facility. The scale up production produced better results in final solid yield and consistent functional properties in the final protein powder. In summary, a food grade efficient process was developed which can transform waste bovine hide pieces to a high protein (and collagen) powder, and ready to be taken up to the next pilot run. The extracted protein powder has been characterised to understand its composition, functional properties and potential applications as ingredients for food and beverage producers.

TRL at start of project = 2-4
TRL at end of project = 5.0