Every year, the poultry industry produces a large number of by-products such as chicken heads containing a considerable proportion of proteins, particularly collagen. To prepare gelatin is one of the possibilities to advantageously utilize these by-products as raw materials. The aim of the paper was to process chicken heads into gelatins. An innovative method for conditioning starting raw material was using the proteolytic enzyme. Three technological factors influencing the yield and properties of extracted gelatins were monitored including the amount of enzyme used in the conditioning of the raw material (0.4% and 1.6%), the time of the conditioning (18 and 48 h), and the first gelatin extraction time (1 and 4 h). The gelatin yield was between 20% and 36%. The gelatin gel strength ranged from 113 to 355 Bloom. The viscosity of the gelatin solution was determined between 1.4 and 9.5 mPa.s. The content of inorganic solids varied from 2.3% to 3.9% and the melting point of the gelatin gel was recorded between 34.5 and 42.2 °C. This study has shown that gelatin obtained from chicken heads has a promising potential with diverse possible applications in the food industry, pharmacy, and cosmetics.

In the European Union (EU), about five tons of poultry by-product tissues are produced every year. Due to their high collagen content, they represent a significant raw material source for gelatine production. The aim of the paper was the biotechnological preparation of gelatine from chicken feet. The influence of selected process factors on the gelatine yield, gel strength, viscosity, and ash of gelatine was observed; a two-level factor design of experiments with three variable process factors (enzyme addition, enzyme treatment time, and gelatine extraction time) was applied. After grinding and separating soluble proteins and fat, the purified raw material was treated in water at pH 7.5 with the addition of endoprotease at 23 °C and after thorough washing with water at 80 °C, gelatine was extracted. By the suitable choice of process conditions, gelatine with high gel strength (220–320 bloom), low ash content (<2.0%) and viscosity of 3.5–7.3 mPa·s can be prepared. The extraction efficiency was 18–38%. The presented technology is innovative mainly by the enzymatic processing of the source raw material, which is economically, technologically, and environmentally beneficial for manufacturers. Chicken gelatines are a suitable alternative to gelatines made from mammals or fish, and can be used in many food, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications.

Poultry meat-processing industry produces considerably large amounts of by-products (such as chicken skins, heads, feathers, viscera, bones and legs) containing significant volumes of proteins, particularly collagen. One of the possibilities of advantageous utilization of these under-used by-products can be their application as a raw material rich in collagen for preparation of gelatine, a partial hydrolysate of collagen. In the present study, chicken skins obtained as a by-product from the chicken-breast processing were purified from non-collagen proteins, pigments and fats. Collagen was treated with proteolytic enzymes and the gelatine extraction was performed in distilled water at temperatures of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C during the constant extraction time of 60 min. The influence of the technological conditions on gelatine functional properties including viscosity, clarity, water holding and fat binding capacity, emulsifying and foaming properties was explored. Certain functional properties of prepared gelatines were significantly affected by the extraction temperature, while on some other properties the extraction temperature had no significant effect. Viscosity of prepared chicken skin gelatines was in the range from 3 to 5.7 mPa.s, clarity from 1.5 to 2%, water holding capacity from 3.8 to 5.6 mL.g-1, fat binding capacity from 0.9 to 1.3 mL.g-1, emulsion capacity from 35 to 50%, emulsion stability from 73 to 88%, foaming capacity from 18 to 61% and finally foaming stability was from 4 to 39%. Chicken skin gelatines were compared with commercial food grade pork and beef gelatines. Prepared chicken skin gelatines showed better viscosity, fat binding capacity and foaming stability than mammalian gelatines, while water holding capacity, emulsifying stability and foaming capacity were not as good as in beef and pork gelatines. Emulsifying capacity was comparable with commercial gelatines. Therefore, chicken skin gelatine has the potential as an alternative to traditional gelatines from mammalian sources, such as pork or beef bones and skins.

Gelatine is, due to its functional properties, currently widely used not only in the food industry (in the production of confectionery, dairy products, canned food) but also in pharmacy (soft and hard capsules) and cosmetics (creams, lotions) where it applies its ability to form thermoreversible gel stronger than most other gelling agents. What is more, it provides further excellent properties including emulsifying, foaming, stabilizing, film-forming, water and fat binding, texturizing, thickening, and adhesive attributes which makes it a very important hydrocolloid. Gelatine is obtained from the raw material of animal tissues containing collagen, usually mammalian skin or bones. For religious reasons in some countries, pork or bovine gelatine must be replaced by an alternative form, such as poultry or fish gelatine. The quality of gelatine is assessed mostly by the strength of gelatine gel which strongly depends on ambient temperature or humidity. Extraction conditions may also significantly affect the quality of gelatine. This study examined possible changes in the strength of gelatine gels prepared from laboratory-produced chicken feet gelatine and compared them with commercially available pork and beef gelatines at temperatures of 23, 29, and 35 °C at 60 and 80% humidity. While at 23 °C thermal stability of prepared chicken gelatine was monitored higher than in commercial gelatines, experiments at 29 and 35 °C provided equivalent results for chicken and commercial gelatines. Therefore, prepared chicken gelatine offers a significant potential to become an alternative to traditional gelatines. The information about gelatine gels thermal stability is of great importance for applications not only in the food; but also in the pharmaceutical industry.