HiSiaddi is an innovative foreign trade service provider driven by both technology commercialization and export business. We have established a comprehensive service system framed as "1+2+3+4=1" and can supply transglutaminase sourced directly from multiple well-known original manufacturers. As a foreign trade enterprise with independent R&D capabilities, HiSiaddi has repeatedly resolved customized product demands for transglutaminase through technical cooperation with manufacturers and precise market insight. Below is a full case of our customized transglutaminase solution. Please contact HiSiaddi customer service if you need further customized service support.
The buyer, IberiPremium – a premium Spanish food group, is a century-old mid-to-high-end local food enterprise headquartered in Spain. Its core product lines include restructured raw-cut Iberian black pork steaks, low-temperature fermented hams, and low-fat plant-based meat alternatives. The products are supplied to high-end boutique supermarkets in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Michelin-starred pre-made food partners. All product lines comply with EU EFSA standards, Spanish AESAN food regulations, and the EU Clean Label Act. The group has an annual TG enzyme demand of 102 tons and has long sourced premium customized TG enzymes from Ajinomoto Japan.
Faced with continuous price hikes for Japanese enzyme preparations, a raised minimum order quantity of 30 tons for overseas custom orders, and unstable ocean freight lead times exceeding 45 days, the client launched a localization program to replace imports with Chinese-made alternatives. The client independently contacted three major domestic TG enzyme manufacturers in China and purchased standard universal 100U/g TG enzyme samples. Three rounds of pilot mass production tests conducted by the client’s R&D center revealed critical performance flaws:
1. Restructured Iberian black pork steaks show insufficient binding strength after 72 hours of cold maturation at 4°C, resulting in fragmented slices and cracked meat, with finished product loss rate exceeding 12%;
2. In low-fat fermented ham production under a weak acid environment at pH 5.1, universal enzymes suffer rapid activity attenuation with poor water retention, leading to excessive weight loss during ham air-drying;
3. When processing pea-protein plant-based steaks, conventional TG enzymes trigger excessively fast protein cross-linking, yielding tough finished products that lose the tender texture of simulated meat, failing to meet end-product positioning requirements.
Domestic manufacturers only supply standardized mass-produced models. Restricted by strain fermentation and compound formulation processes, they cannot conduct precise customization of enzyme activity, customized buffer carriers, or weak-acid-resistant modifications tailored to the client’s formulation parameters. Most factories only recommend mature off-the-shelf products and are unwilling to allocate R&D resources to develop exclusive customized variants. Lacking access to China’s complete enzyme preparation industrial chain and expertise in strain fermentation and post-compounding processes, the client failed multiple sample trials. It then entrusted HiSiaddi – a service provider specializing in enzyme preparation foreign trade and customized technical support – to fully oversee the entire process of customized TG enzyme development, sample trial tracking, and mass production launch.
HiSiaddi coordinated with the client’s R&D director to obtain production process parameters, raw material ratios, and temperature & humidity control data from the Spanish factory, then differentiated customized standards for the three production lines. Abandoning the universal 100U/g standardized product solution, three core customized requirements were finalized:
Target enzyme activity strictly controlled within a narrow range of 135U/g±3U/g. Optimized enzyme buffer carriers to suit cold maturation at 0–6°C, enabling slow cross-linking over 72 hours for firm adhesion and intact slicing. High-purity modified corn maltodextrin is adopted as the carrier for a clean-label formulation compliant with EU regulations without extra additive labeling. The recommended dosage is only 0.22% to achieve standard forming performance, far lower than the 0.35% dosage required for universal enzymes.
Weak-acid-resistant modified TG enzyme with stable optimal pH range of 4.9–5.4 and enzyme activity of 92U/g±2U/g. It retains a minimum of 88% enzyme activity under the weak acid ham curing system to boost myoprotein cross-linking and water locking, reducing finished product weight loss during air-drying, and fitting the client’s low-salt, phosphate-free formulation system.
Slow-release low-activity TG enzyme with enzyme activity of 68U/g±2U/g, compounded with food-grade citrate buffer additives to slow protein cross-linking and prevent excessive hardening of pea protein. The finished product delivers elasticity comparable to fresh beef, matching the texture requirements of fully plant-based clean-label products.
Additional packaging customization requirements: 2kg independent vacuum aluminum foil pouches (versus standard 20kg cartons from manufacturers), bilingual labels in Spanish and English, and batch-specific TÜV Rheinland English COA and LFGB test reports.
HiSiaddi selected two mid-to-high-end domestic TG enzyme manufacturers with independent strain fermentation and refined compounding R&D capabilities, establishing a three-party project team consisting of foreign trade liaisons, application technical specialists, and factory R&D staff. The full launch was divided into three phases: small-batch R&D → pilot trial production → mass production fine-tuning.
Standard industrial TG enzyme fermentation typically produces an enzyme activity fluctuation range of ±8–10U/g, failing to meet the client’s strict tolerance of ±2–3U/g. HiSiaddi coordinated with manufacturers to optimize carbon-nitrogen ratios in Streptomyces fermentation media and temperature control curves for fermenters, adjusting fermentation durations in segments to conduct targeted fermentation for the three customized products respectively:
· Grade A steak enzyme: Extend low-temperature fermentation in the later stage to enrich active enzyme proteins, locking enzyme activity between 133–137U/g;
· Grade B ham enzyme: Optimize fermentation pH conditions to strengthen expression of acid-resistant enzyme proteins, stabilizing activity at 90–94U/g;
· Grade C slow-release plant meat enzyme: Shorten fermentation cycles, followed by carrier dilution and activity calibration to precisely control activity at 66–70U/g. All fermentation broth batches are sampled for third-party testing; unqualified broth is discarded and readjusted to prevent raw materials with excessive enzyme activity fluctuations from entering the compounding stage.
1. Grade A restructured steak enzyme: Replace generic maltodextrin carriers with high-purity modified corn maltodextrin free of chemical additives, complying with EU clean label standards and delivering slow activity release under low-temperature conditions for gradual cross-linking;
2. Grade B acid-resistant ham enzyme: Compound food-grade sodium citrate buffer salts to expand acid-base tolerance, drastically slowing enzyme activity attenuation under pH 5.0 weak acid curing environments;
3. Grade C slow-release plant meat enzyme: Pair with microcrystalline cellulose inert carriers to delay contact between TG enzymes and pea protein, avoiding excessive short-term cross-linking and hardening to match the texture requirements of simulated meat.
Custom food-grade vacuum inner bags were developed via mold opening at packaging factories to meet the client’s demand for 2kg independent vacuum aluminum foil packaging. Outer cartons feature bilingual Spanish-English labels indicating product model, enzyme activity, E-number codes, storage conditions, and country of origin. Custom supporting English MSDS and TDS technical datasheets were also prepared. In advance, TÜV Rheinland was engaged to conduct full testing in accordance with EU E472 regulations and Spanish AESAN standards.
HiSiaddi shipped three batches of free customized samples (25kg per grade) via air freight to the Spanish factory for three separate industrial pilot trials:
1. Restructured black pork steaks: Slices remain intact without cracking after 72 hours of maturation at 4°C. Product loss dropped from the original 12% to 3.2%, with a 37% reduction in enzyme dosage, delivering significant raw material cost savings;
2. Low-temperature fermented ham: Enzyme activity retention meets standards during weak acid curing. Ham weight loss during air-drying decreased by 4.8%, yielding firm, juicy meat with no water seepage in low-salt finished products;
3. Pea-protein plant-based steaks: Finished products exhibit balanced hardness and elasticity matching fresh beef, completely eliminating tough, dry texture defects. The new product successfully passed filing and inspection requirements for Spanish high-end supermarkets.
All three customized TG enzyme grades passed dual acceptance tests by the client’s R&D center and Spanish third-party food safety institutions. The client formally signed an annual framework procurement contract for 102 tons: 46 tons of Grade A, 38 tons of Grade B, and 18 tons of Grade C, with phased monthly shipments across 12 batches.
① Raw material procurement costs decreased by 31.5% compared to original Japanese TG enzymes, cutting annual raw material expenditure by over 286,000 euros. The client broke free from supply chain constraints of Japanese raw materials with high minimum order quantities and long ocean transit times, enabling on-demand split shipments from China and reducing capital occupation via large raw material stockpiles. ② All three new product lines (restructured black pork steaks, low-fat fermented hams, plant-based steaks) entered stable mass production and shelf sales at Spanish high-end supermarkets. Optimized formulations strengthened product competitiveness, with an additional 23 tons of customized TG enzymes ordered for a new mushroom-protein vegetarian line. ③ Complete localization replacement of premium imported enzyme preparations, establishing a long-term stable customized procurement channel.
Leveraging this benchmark customized project for century-old Spanish high-end meat brands, manufacturers refined customized production processes for EU-export grade refined TG enzymes and built standardized production lines for strain-specific fermentation and targeted compounding. The three customized models command a 33% premium over generic mass-produced TG enzymes, allowing manufacturers to escape low-price competition within China’s domestic market. Backed by this Spanish case, three additional customized orders from premium pre-meat manufacturers in Portugal and Italy were secured, opening access to the high-value Southern European enzyme preparation market.
A dedicated TG enzyme customization service system was established, covering client formulation parameter analysis, strain fermentation customization, carrier compound optimization, cross-border sample trials, and supporting compliance documentation. This differentiates HiSiaddi from ordinary trading companies that only supply off-the-shelf products. Supported by technical customization capabilities, multiple TG enzyme customization mandates from mid-to-high-end dairy and meat enterprises across Europe and North America were subsequently secured, making enzyme customization HiSiaddi’s core profit segment.
Most domestic enzyme preparation manufacturers focus on standardized mass-produced TG enzymes with limited incentive to invest in refined customized R&D. Mid-to-high-end overseas food brands rely on proprietary unique formulations that impose personalized requirements on TG enzyme activity, acid/alkali resistance, cross-linking speed, and carrier formulas, which generic off-the-shelf products cannot match for specialized production processes. Positioned as an independent third-party technical foreign trade service provider, HiSiaddi connects client formulation demands, factory fermentation R&D, and cross-border sample trials in a closed-loop customized development workflow. This solution enables foreign premium brands to achieve localized raw material cost reduction and stable mass production of new products, while helping high-quality domestic enzyme manufacturers penetrate high-value EU and US ingredient markets via differentiated customized products – delivering a three-way win for end clients, manufacturers, and foreign trade service providers. Against the industry trend of global clean-label adoption and rapid growth of premium pre-made food, refined customization of enzyme preparations has become a critical path for domestic raw material suppliers to break into overseas mid-to-high-end markets.
Contact HiSiaddi customer service for further customized service inquiries.
+86-13120989737 
info@hisiaddi.com 
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