Expanding the industrial applications of a meat co-product: Generation of low-haemoglobin content plasma by means of red cells crenation

Abstract

Abstract Blood plasma is a protein-rich liquid which has many applications in food, research, pharma, pet food and animal feed industries. However, for some applications, the haemoglobin level in plasma needs to be very low to prevent, for example, interference with other proteins, colour changes or bitter/metallic taste. Plasma is obtained mainly by centrifugation, but as the processing volume increases, the haemoglobin content increases as well, and the plasma quality is considered poor. In this research, a novel process based on red cell crenation, is presented as a method to obtain low-haemoglobin content plasma, even when centrifuging at large volumes. Four factors were found to affect the plasma quality: processing time, processing volume, centrifugation force, and concentration of phosphate saline buffer in plasma. Results showed that 10% v/v 10X-(Phosphate buffered saline) treated-blood samples were able to generate better quality plasma than untreated samples regardless of the speed, volume or time employed. Additionally, an increment in the amount of recovered plasma proteins was observed. Plasma displayed similar functional properties as controls. Even more, ethyl fractionation, using Cohn's method, generated a protein-rich fraction with a SDS-PAGE profile identical to controls. By means of this novel process the recovery, revalorisation and application of blood proteins can be expanded with the concomitant environmental and economic benefit.