Breakthrough Progress Made in Edible Processing Technology for Animal Bones

         Edible animal bones such as livestock and poultry bones are valuable resources of food-derived protein, fat and minerals. At present, the world's annual output of livestock and poultry bones is as high as more than 46 million tons, of which China accounts for 22%, about 12 million tons, exceeding the combined output of livestock and poultry bones in Europe and the United States. The bone by-products produced by slaughtering in China contain 2 million tons of high-quality protein, enough to meet the annual protein demand of 80 million people. However, for a long time, the utilization pathways of livestock and poultry bones have been single, the processing methods extensive, and resource waste and environmental pollution serious; product added value is low and quality poor; processing technology and equipment have poor adaptability and high energy consumption, making industrialization difficult. This has become an unresolved worldwide problem that has long troubled the international food processing industry.

Since 2009, with special funding from the Ministry of Agriculture's “948” project and the Ministry of Science and Technology's international cooperation projects, a research team led by researcher Zhang Chunhui of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has used edible bones from chicken, pig, cattle, sheep and fish as raw materials, focusing on key bone processing technologies, equipment and product development such as raw bone pretreatment, high-efficiency hot-pressing extraction, targeted enzymatic hydrolysis, energy-saving and high-efficiency concentration, and flavor enhancement. The team optimized the high-efficiency crushing and separation process for raw bones, and developed a new type of “rodent-style” high-efficiency bone crusher and a “graded” conical-screen high-efficiency bone-meat spiral separator, increasing crushing and separation efficiency by 20%-30%; created a high-efficiency hot-pressing extraction technology for bone extract, revealed the migration patterns of nutrients during hot-pressing extraction, and developed a hot-pressing extraction device, improving equipment applicability, safety and energy efficiency, with a collagen extraction rate of 95% and energy savings of 20%; achieved integration of ultrafiltration-nanofiltration-reverse osmosis membrane gradient concentration coupled with vacuum concentration process equipment, improving concentration efficiency and product quality, with concentration efficiency increased by 30% and energy savings of 36%-45%; determined the process conditions for gradient targeted enzymatic hydrolysis of bone extract, optimized the process conditions for derivatization reactions and flavor enhancement of bone extract, and developed an integrated multifunctional enzymatic hydrolysis tank device for extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis and blending; developed new products such as bone extract, stock, bone oil, chondroitin sulfate, flavor peptide base material and bone extract meat flavor essence, meeting the consumer demand of the catering industry, convenience food industry, meat product processing and home kitchens for nutritious, delicious, natural, healthy and safe bone-derived foods, and building a new model for comprehensive utilization of edible bones in China.

The project broke through 5 sets of key technologies, developed 6 sets of equipment, developed 6 major categories of innovative bone-derived foods, formulated 7 standards, obtained 30 authorized patents and 6 software copyrights, and achieved an integrated breakthrough of “technology-equipment-product-standard-promotion.” The achievement “Research, Development and Application of Key Technologies and Equipment for Bone Extract Processing” passed expert group appraisal organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, with the overall technology at the internationally leading level. The achievements have successively established 10 demonstration production lines in Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and other places. Demonstration enterprises have accumulated new output value of 2.154 billion yuan, profits and taxes of 465 million yuan, and increased income and reduced expenditure of 139 million yuan, with significant economic, environmental and social benefits.