Improvement of phosphorus availability by microbial phytase in broilers and pigs.

Techniques have been developed to produce microbial phytase for addition to diets for simple-stomached animals, with the aim to improve phosphorus availability from phytate-P in plant sources. The activity of the crude microbial phytase showed pH optima at pH 5.5 and 2.

In vitro assay for protein digestibility: interlaboratory study.

True protein digestibilities of 17 protein sources were estimated by 6 laboratories using an in vitro, 3-enzyme digestion system in a pH stat. Samples from animal, vegetable, and mixed food sources were freeze-dried (if not already dried), ground, mixed, and shipped to each collaborator along with a sodium caseinate standard and trypsin, chymotrypsin, and peptidase. The uptake of titrant during enzymatic digestion was used to calculate estimates of digestibility.

In vitro assay for predicting protein efficiency ratio as measured by rat bioassay: collaborative study.

Seven laboratories collaborated in testing the calculated protein efficiency ratio (C-PER and DC-PER). The collaborative study required each laboratory to analyze 6 foods and a control protein (ANRC casein) for in vitro apparent protein digestibility, amino acid composition, and PER via rat bioassay. The 6 foods or food ingredients tested were nonfat dry milk, cooked chicken muscle, protein-fortified dry breakfast cereal, textured soy protein, oat-based dry breakfast cereal, and durum wheat flour.

Evaluation of lysinoalanine determinations in food proteins.

A comparison is made between lysinoalanine (LAL) determinations both with an automatic amino acid analyzer (AAA) and with thin layer chromatography-densitometry (TLC) in different types of food and food ingredients, taken from the Dutch market. Generally there is a reasonable agreement between the LAL content obtained by both methods. However, some results indicate that a single technique is not always conclusive about the real identity of the ninhydrin-positive compound at the same position as LAL on the chromatogram.

Effects of alkali-treated proteins: feeding studies with free and protein-bound lysinoalanine in rats and other animals.

To find out whether alkali-treated proteins posses nephrotoxic properties, feeding studies were conducted with drastically treated soybean protein and casein, and also with lysinoalanine (LAL), the amino acid known to be formed in protein subjected to high pH at elevated temperature. The feeding of synthesized LAL to rats at dietary levels of 100 ppm and above induced typical renal changes, called nephrocytomegalia. No such changes or any other indications of toxicity were observed, however, upon feeding much higher levels of LAL (up to 6,000 ppm) when provided as the protein-bound compound in alkali-treated casein or soybean protein.

The detection of chicken meat in meat products by means of the anserine/carnosine ratio.

A distinctive difference was found between the ratio of the anserine and carnosine contents (a/c ratio) in beef or pork and of that in chicken/meat. The a/c ratio for beef varies between 0.06-0.