• Question: what are the commercial uses of protein?

    Asked by joannabananas12 to Duncan, Grant, Julie, Nik, Rachel on 11 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by officalnerdcubed.
    • Photo: Julie Bland

      Julie Bland answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Hi Joanna,
      Protein is used in many food preparation as an ingredients to change its nutritional value or texture. I am mainly working with whey protein which you can find in supplement for muscle growth (boys love to used them when going to the gym to try to get bigger muscles) or for older and ill people which need to eat a lot of protein. Whey is the liquid high in lactose and protein which remains at the end of the cheese-making process. When you take out the lactose and the water, what you get is a substance high in protein and vitamins.

    • Photo: Nik Watson

      Nik Watson answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      as well as food proteins can be used to make other products like glue

    • Photo: Grant Campbell

      Grant Campbell answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Protein is one of the main food components, used for building structure and for helping certain reactions to take place (proteins that do this are called enzymes). Wheat proteins give bread the ability to retain gas and rise. The commercial uses of proteins are many and varied. You’ve heard of Little Miss Muffet, eating her curds and whey – these are the two main types of milk protein. Curds make cheese, while whey is these days separated into a wide range of ingredients (it used to be thrown away or fed to pigs). (Incidentally, no-one knows what the “tuffet” is that Little Miss Muffet sat on!) Soya is used a lot to increase the protein content of animal feed. Enzymes (these are proteins, remember) are used in biological washing powders, to help break down food stains on clothes.

    • Photo: Duncan Gaskin

      Duncan Gaskin answered on 16 Mar 2013:

      Proteins are a group of complex chemicals that are produced by all living things. There are millions of different types. They are found in lots of different food ingredients, and have lots of uses in industrial processes. Enzymes are a group of proteins that are able to make chemical reactions work faster. Examples of commercially important enzymes are lipases which break down fats and oils and proteinases which break down proteins. These are used in biological washing powders and liquids to break down the chemicals that are found in dirt and stains.

Comments