Perspective: A proposal on solutions of modern supply chain construction for lactoferrin.

Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein of the transferrin family that is found in most bodily fluids of mammals and has a variety of biological and beneficial functions, with great importance in health enhancement as a supplement for humans and other animals. More than 300 t of lactoferrin were produced in 2021, and this number is expected to grow yearly by 10% to 12%, to over 580 t in 2030. With new and important functions of lactoferrin being revealed and studied, focus on its industrial production and application is increasing accordingly. However, lactoferrin is mainly sourced from cheese whey or skim milk by cation-exchange column chromatography, which is a costly and low-quality method. A potential solution for lactoferrin global supply chain construction is proposed in this article as a complement to traditional routes of purification from whey or skim milk. The large-scale production of lactoferrin, mainly by recombinant yeast, mammal, and grain systems, as well as the market niche and product design, are discussed.

Effects of dietary supplementation of bovine lactoferrin on growth performance, immune function and intestinal health in weaning piglets.

Weaning is a crucial period in the pig's life cycle, which is frequently followed by gastrointestinal (GI) infections, diarrhea and even death. This study focused on the impact of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) supplementation on the intestinal health of weaning piglets. Weaning piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 23 days) were randomly allocated into four groups, which included negative control group (CON): basic diet; positive control group (ANT): basic diet + 20 mg/kg flavomycin + 100 mg/kg aureomycin; treatment group bLF-A: basic diet + 1 g/kg bLF; treatment group bLF-B: basic diet + 3 g/kg bLF. The result showed that dietary supplementation of bLF can improve growth performance and reduce diarrhea, which exhibits dose-dependency (P < 0.05). Compared with CON group, supplementation with bLF significantly improved immunity, and increased villus height and ratio of villus height/crypt depth at the small intestinal mucosa (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of claudin-1, occludin and ZO-1 was greatly increased in the ileum of bLF group on days 7 and 14 (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the supplementation of bLF increased the abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and decreased the abundance of Escherichia coli in the cecum on day 7 (P < 0.05). The dietary supplementation of bLF enhanced the growth performance, reduced diarrhea rate in weaning piglets by improving intestinal immunity, morphology and barrier function, balancing intestinal microbiota. And bLF can be a promising feed additive in relieving stress situation of weaning piglets.

Effect of Heat-Moisture Treatment on Physicochemical, Thermal, Morphological, and Structural Properties of Mechanically Activated Large A- and Small B-Wheat Starch Granules.

The large and small granules of A-starch (AS) and B-starch (BS) were separated from wheat cultivar of ZM 22. It was modified by ball-milling (BM) and heat-moisture treatment (HMT) was performed after BM treatment. After BM, noticeable deformation, fragments, fissures, and grooves were observed, whereas diffusion and aggregation were detected and followed by HMT. Crystallinity of AS-BM-5h decreased to 7.8%, and no diffraction peaks were observed for BS. However, after HMT, the crystallinity of AS-BM-5h and BS-BM-5h was increased to 17.4% and 6.2%, respectively. AS-BM-HMT displayed better thermal stability. After being treated by BM previously, AS and BS showed an increase in solubility, whereas the subsequent HMT of BM-treated starches (both AS and BS) had higher solubility especially for BS with longer BM treatment time. Large-sized granules were easier to be damaged by BM, whereas small-sized granules were greatly influenced by HMT. Dual modification of BM-HMT was an effective and potential method to modify the structure of wheat starch granules and expand its industrial applications. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study put forward a new dual modification method in combination with BM-HMT for large A-starch and small B-starch granules. Flour processing inevitably causes some starch to be damaged by destroying the structure. How can the damaged starch structure be improved to satisfy the food processing industry? HMT was proposed to modify the mechanically activated starches because of its obvious effects on smaller BS. HMT can reduce the content of damaged starch by rearranging and reorganizing its structures. This study can provide a low-cost, convenient, and eco-friendly technology for improving damaged starch and developing its applications in food industry.

Extraction, characterization and spontaneous emulsifying properties of pectin from sugar beet pulp.

The effects of organic acid extractants on the yield and characteristics of pectin from sugar beet pulp were investigated with citric acid, malic acid and lactic acid at different pH (1.5 and 2.0) and time (1 h and 2 h). The results demonstrated that the yields of pectins were directly correlated with the decrease of pH and reaction time, and the optimum yield of 17.2% was obtained at pH 1.5 and 2 h. Furthermore, the acid type also affected the physicochemical characteristics of pectin, especially on the esterification degree (42-71), galacturonic acid content (60.2-77.8%), emulsion activity (35.2-40.1%) and emulsion stability (62.1-79.4%), and a relatively single pectin mainly consisted of homogalacturonan could be obtained under a suitable reaction condition, which was an excellent crude material for the production of emulsion activity.