Identification of Vegetable Proteins in Fabricated Foods

Abstract

Processed foods using vegetable proteins, the formulations of which were almost known, were investigated to identify vegetable proteins with disc acrylamide gel electrophoresis in the urea system. As for this experiment concerned, it was possible to detect the blending of more than 0.5% soybean protein and more than 1% wheat protein on the electrophoretical patterns of processed foods; however, linear relationship between the protein amounts added and the areas of the main peaks on the electrophoretical patterns could not always be obtained, and marked difference was found in the degree of staining depending on the kind of proteins used. Meats and eggs had subpeaks which located near the mainpeaks of soybean and wheat proteins so that they disturbed the identification. Heat processed foods such as retorted products provided obscure electrophoretical patterns in which the separation of each peak was not clear and the degree of staining decreased. Those facts let us consider the difficulty of identification of vegetable proteins in processed foods, such as so-called fabricated foods, especially quantitatively.