Seal meat enzymatic hydrolysates and its digests: A comparison on protein and minerals profiles

Seal meat is of high nutritive value but currently a by-product and waste from seal oil processing. Seal meat hydrolysates were generated from alcalase catalysis and were subjected to a soft dynamic digestion system to study their nutritional value and the health benefits. The total amino acid content was determined as 568.54 and 384.65 mg/g for seal meat hydrolysates and its intestinal digests, respectively, using UPLC, and both of the samples were rich in essential amino acids such as Leu and Lys. There were no harmful minerals observed by ICP-MS analyses. Both the gastric and intestinal digests revealed nutritive minerals, i.e., Ca, Fe, Mg, Zn, among which the contents of Fe were 548 and 602 mg/kg, respectively, higher than common meat products. The absorbable Fe²⁺ ions content remained almost the same during the gastric and intestinal digestion, while the content of undesirable Fe³⁺ ions declined drastically in intestinal digests. The change of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions was probably due to the antioxidant activities of seal meat hydrolysates observed via scavenging of DPPH and hydroxyl radicals. This study provides knowledge on seal meat hydrolysates as healthy food supplement.