Limiting factors for the enzymatic accessibility of soybean protein

Soy is a commonly used ingredient is food and animal feed. With particular focus on the in-soluble fractions, this thesis deals with the effects of proteases and carbohydrate degrading enzymes on different soybean meals subjected to different extent of heating. The primary aim is to improve the understanding of enzymatic hydrolysis of SBM with emphasis on proteins and to identify barriers limiting the efficiency of the process. The results show that aggregation behavior of peptides during enzymatic processing of soy proteins is potentially a limiting factor for efficacy of protein extraction. Surprisingly, it is also demonstrated that aggregation is not limited to in vitro incubations, but is also occurring in vivo in the digestive system of pigs.