Peptide enriched functional food adjunct from soy whey: A statistical optimization study

Soy whey is generated as a process waste while preparing soy based food products tofu, causing environmental pollution and also representing an economic penalty against the industrial process. Therefore, its valorization is of prime importance to the industry. The present investigation aims to convert this proteinaceous waste into bioactive peptide enriched hydrolysate. Soy whey protein was enzymatically treated with the Aspergillus awamori nakazawa protease. Respective protease was efficient to produce antioxidant peptide beholding radical scavenging ability of 40–50% at normal conditions. Remarkable increase in the radical scavenging activity upto 70% was noticed at the response surface methodology (RSM) based optimized condition: temperature 40°C, salt concentration (NaCl) 0.05 M, surfactant concentration (Triton-X 100) 0.0075%, hydrolysis time 80 min, and enzyme to substrate concentration 164 IU/g of soy whey protein. The present study emphasizes the biotransformation of proteineceous waste into antioxidant peptide rich soy whey protein hydrolysate to be considered as additives for food preparation and formulation.