Microbial Protease — Hidden Processing Agent — Is It Vegan?

Vegan status: Vegan

Also known as: Protease enzyme, Subtilisin, Alcalase, Bacterial protease

Source

Produced by microbial fermentation from Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis, or Aspergillus species. Entirely microbial and vegan.

Used in

Meat tenderising (cleaves peptide bonds in muscle proteins), bread baking (gluten reduction — used in cracker and biscuit production), beer chill-haze prevention, leather dehairing and bating (industrial use), detergents.

Appears on label: No. Listed as 'protease' or 'enzyme' in ingredient lists where relevant. Not required when used as a processing aid.

How to avoid

No need to avoid — microbial protease is vegan.

Notes

Microbial proteases have replaced many traditional animal-derived enzyme applications. In cheese ripening, protease activity is critical for flavour development. In meat processing, papain (plant-derived, from papaya) and microbial proteases are the main commercial tenderising enzymes. Animal-derived proteases (trypsin, chymotrypsin) still exist but are less common in food applications.