Inactive Yeast(Brewer's Yeast) by Wuhan Foody

Inactive yeast refers to yeast cells that have lost their biological activity through high temperature, high pressure, drying and other processing technologies. It retains the abundant nutritional components of natural yeast such as protein, amino acids, polysaccharides, vitamins and minerals, and has no fermentation capacity. As a high-quality natural nutritional ingredient, it is widely applied in the fields of human food, pet food and animal nutrition with differentiated application scenarios and core values in each field, mainly focusing on nutritional supplementation, flavor improvement and physical property optimization. The detailed descriptions by field are as follows:

1. Application in Human Food

Inactive yeast serves as a natural nutritional fortifier and flavor modifier in the human food industry, and its application covers baked goods, condiments, dairy products, nutritional supplements and other categories, with the following core values:

• Nutritional fortification: It is a high-quality plant-based protein source with a balanced amino acid profile, containing 8 kinds of essential amino acids required by the human body. It is also rich in B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, niacin, pantothenic acid), trace elements (zinc, iron, selenium, magnesium) and functional polysaccharides (yeast beta-glucan, mannan). It is widely added to nutritional bars, plant-based meat, cereal products and milk powder to supplement dietary nutrition and improve the nutritional value of food.

• Flavor enhancement and umami regulation: The rich free amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid), nucleotides and peptides in inactive yeast can naturally enhance the umami and savory taste of food, and is used as a natural flavor enhancer in condiments such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, compound seasoning and soup bases, replacing or reducing the addition of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to meet the demand for clean-label food.

• Improvement of food physical properties: Its unique cell wall structure can play a role in thickening, emulsifying and water retention. Adding it to baked goods can improve the softness and shelf life of bread and cakes; in plant-based dairy products and meat products, it can optimize the texture and mouthfeel, reducing the dry and astringent taste of plant-based food.

• Functional food development: The yeast beta-glucan and mannan in its cell wall have been proven to have immune regulation and intestinal health benefits. Inactive yeast is processed into functional ingredients and added to health products, probiotic drinks and intestinal conditioning foods, becoming a raw material for functional food research and development.

2. Application in Pet Food

As a high-value nutritional additive and palatability enhancer in pet food, inactive yeast is tailored to the nutritional needs of cats, dogs and other companion animals, and is an essential ingredient in high-end pet food and pet snacks, with core functions:

• Palatability improvement: Pets have a natural preference for the umami taste of amino acids and nucleotides in inactive yeast. Adding it to dry food, wet food, canned food and freeze-dried snacks can significantly improve the palatability of pet food, solve the problem of picky eating in pets, and increase food intake, especially suitable for puppies, kittens, elderly pets and sick pets with poor appetite.

• Nutritional supplementation for pets: It provides high-quality digestible protein for pets, which is easy to be absorbed and utilized by the gastrointestinal tract of cats and dogs, avoiding the digestive burden caused by excessive animal protein. At the same time, the rich B vitamins and trace elements can supplement the nutritional needs of pets for daily activities, hair growth and immune maintenance, and improve the gloss of pet hair and the health of skin.

• Intestinal health care: The yeast cell wall polysaccharides (beta-glucan and mannan) in inactive yeast can adsorb pathogenic bacteria in the pet's intestinal tract and promote the proliferation of beneficial bacteria (such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium), regulating the intestinal flora balance, reducing the occurrence of diarrhea and constipation, and enhancing the intestinal barrier function of pets.

• Oral health auxiliary: Some processed inactive yeast products can be added to pet dental snacks and toothpaste, which can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in the oral cavity, reduce dental plaque and tartar formation, and alleviate pet bad breath.

3. Application in Animal Nutrition

In the field of livestock, poultry, aquaculture and ruminant nutrition, inactive yeast is a green feed additive that replaces antibiotics and improves feed utilization, and its application is widely popularized in the breeding industry due to its safety, non-toxicity and no drug residue, with core application values:

• Improving feed palatability and intake: The natural umami components in inactive yeast can improve the taste of compound feed, increase the feed intake of livestock, poultry and aquatic animals, and solve the problem of reduced intake caused by feed formula adjustment or stress response of animals, especially suitable for weaned piglets, young chicks and juvenile aquatic animals with weak feeding desire.

• Enhancing feed nutritional value and utilization rate: It is a high-quality protein and amino acid supplement for feed, which can balance the amino acid profile of plant-based feed (soybean meal, corn, bran), reduce the addition of expensive fish meal and meat and bone meal, and lower breeding costs. At the same time, its rich digestive enzymes and growth factors can promote the secretion of animal gastrointestinal digestive juice, improve the digestibility and absorption rate of feed nutrients.

• Regulating animal intestinal health and improving immunity: The beta-glucan and mannan in the cell wall can enhance the non-specific immunity of animals, activate the body's immune cells (macrophages, lymphocytes), and improve the resistance of livestock, poultry and aquatic animals to diseases. For ruminants (cattle, sheep), inactive yeast can also promote the proliferation of rumen microorganisms, optimize rumen fermentation environment, improve the utilization rate of roughage, and reduce the occurrence of rumen acidosis.

• Alleviating animal stress response: In the breeding process, animals are prone to stress reactions (transportation, weaning, temperature change, group transfer) leading to reduced immunity and growth retardation. Adding inactive yeast to feed can alleviate the stress response of animals, maintain the stability of intestinal flora, and ensure the normal growth and development of animals.

Improving breeding performance: For breeding animals, inactive yeast can improve the reproductive performance of sows, dairy cows and other breeding stock, increase litter size and milk production; for meat animals (pigs, chickens, beef cattle), it can promote growth and weight gain, improve feed conversion ratio; for aquatic animals (fish, shrimp, crab), it can improve survival rate, growth speed and meat quality.