Elimination of trypsin inhibitor activity and beany flavor in soy milk by consecutive blanching and ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) processing

Soy foods contain significant health-promoting components but also may contain beany flavor and trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), which can cause pancreatic disease if present at a high level. Thermal processing can inactivate TIA and lipoxygenase. Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) processing is relatively new for manufacturing soy milk. Simultaneous elimination of TIA and soy odor by UHT processing for enhancing soy milk quality has not been reported. The objective was to determine TIA in soy milk processed by traditional, steam injection, blanching, and UHT methods and to compare the products with commercial soy milk products. Soybean was soaked and blanched at 70-85 degrees C for 30 s-7.5 min. The blanched beans were made into base soy milk. The hexanal content of the base soy milk was determined by gas chromatography to determine the best conditions for further thermal processing by indirect and direct UHT methods at 135-150 degrees C for 10-50 s using the Microthermics processor. Soy milk was also made from soaked soybeans by traditional batch cooking and steaming methods. Eighteen commercial products were selected from the supermarket. Residual TIA in soy milk processed by the traditional and steam injection to 100 degrees C for 20 min was approximately 13%. Blanching could inactivate 25-50% of TIAs of the raw soy milk. The blanch conditions of 80 degrees C and 2 min were selected for UHT processing because these conditions produced blanched soy milk without hexanal, indicating a complete heat inactivation of lipoxygenases. The TIA decreased with increased temperature and time of UHT heating. The maximal trypsin inhibitor inactivation was achieved by UHT direct and indirect methods with residual activities of approximately 10%. Some commercial soy milk products contained high TIAs. The results are important to the food industry and consumers. Kinetic analysis showed that heat inactivation (denaturation) of TIA, under the continuous processing conditions of the Microthermics processor, followed first-order reaction kinetics, and the activation energy of the inactivation was 34 kJ/mol.