Krill Proteins & Peptides

Few marine organisms are as abundant, or as underused, as Antarctic krill. Euphausia superba swims through the Southern Ocean in swarms large enough to be seen from orbit, and the biomass carries a protein payload that the fishing and processing industries have only recently learned to unlock. Once the shell is separated, the muscle tissue of this small, shrimp-like crustacean yields a protein fraction with a remarkably balanced amino acid profile, together with naturally occurring phospholipids and the deep orange pigment astaxanthin that gives krill its colour. Eata Marisource works with this material every day, turning wild-caught Antarctic krill into research and industrial grades of protein, hydrolysate and peptide powder.

Controlled enzymatic digestion is where krill protein becomes peptide science. Depending on the enzyme and the digestion conditions, the long protein chains are cut into fragments of a few hundred to a few thousand daltons, and the resulting hydrolysates carry documented bioactivities — radical scavenging, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition, dipeptidyl peptidase inhibition, calcium-binding — that make them a busy subject in food, nutrition and cosmetic research. The catalogue below shows the forms we keep in stock and the specifications we can tailor.

Why Krill Protein, Why Now

Krill sits at the base of the Antarctic food web, which makes it one of the most sustainably harvestable marine protein sources in the world when managed correctly. For formulators and researchers, the appeal is compositional:

• A complete protein — krill muscle delivers all essential amino acids, with notable levels of glutamic acid, aspartic acid and leucine.
• Astaxanthin co-extracts — the natural carotenoid survives gentle processing, so hydrolysates and powders carry a slight golden to orange tint worth knowing about in colour-sensitive applications.
• Phospholipid-adjacent fractions — krill oil and defatted protein can be processed separately or in combination, depending on the end-use.
• Low molecular weight on demand — hydrolysis can be pushed to produce predominantly short-chain peptides below 1,000 Da for rapid solubility and absorption studies.
• Fluoride-aware processing — because krill shells concentrate fluoride, our protein and peptide lines are produced with a defatting and shell-removal sequence that controls mineral load before hydrolysis.

Product Categories

Our krill line is organized around the form and the molecular profile you need:

• Krill protein concentrate — defatted, shell-removed krill muscle protein with a clean amino acid profile, supplied as powder or frozen blocks for further processing.
• Hydrolyzed krill protein — enzyme-digested concentrate with a controlled degree of hydrolysis, sold as powder or liquid for R&D batches and pilot trials.
• Krill oligopeptide powder — short-chain peptides typically below 1,000 Da, spray-dried for fast dissolution in aqueous systems.
• Bioactive peptide fractions — antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory fractions supplied with assay data, for mechanistic and comparative studies.
• Krill protein hydrolysate liquid — freshly digested solution for fermentation, spray-drying trials or direct use in liquid concepts.
• Specialty cuts — antifreeze peptides, calcium-chelating peptides and DPP-IV inhibitory fractions prepared to defined activity ranges.

Product Portfolio at a Glance

Table 1 — Product Portfolio at a Glance

Where Krill Peptides Fit

Because the hydrolysates combine low molecular weight, good solubility and a mild marine taste that is easier to mask than fish protein, they show up across a wide range of projects:

• Functional food and beverage prototypes — soluble peptide powders for sticks, shots and powders where clean labelling matters.
• Sports and active nutrition concepts — fast-dissolving peptides for recovery formulations and amino-acid-rich blends.
• Skincare and cosmetic trials — antioxidant peptide fractions for serum, cream and film-forming prototypes.
• Aquafeed and pet food development — hydrolyzed krill protein as a palatable protein source in extrusion and coating trials.
• Academic and contract research — defined peptide fractions for structure-activity, bioavailability and cell-model studies.

Quality and Documentation

• Lot traceability — every batch carries a certificate of analysis with protein, peptide, moisture and ash data.
• Molecular-weight distribution — provided on request, so the fraction you validate matches the fraction you reorder.
• Amino acid and activity profiles — composition data and, where applicable, antioxidant or ACE-inhibition assay results.
• Food-contact and lab-grade packaging — sealed drums, bags, jars or sample vials, labelled to your requirement.
• Processing support — enzyme selection, digestion time and drying conditions discussed with people who run these lines daily.

Custom Krill Solutions

Off-the-shelf grades cover most screening work, but peptide behaviour is sensitive to process conditions, so we regularly make material to a specific brief:

• Molecular-weight fractionation to a defined cutoff, with distribution data supplied.
• Deodorized and low-bitterness grades for applications where sensory profile matters.
• Astaxanthin-retained versus defatted variants, matched to your colour and stability requirements.
• Liquid, powder or frozen forms, with packaging from lab vials to bulk drums.

Tell us the molecular profile or activity your work depends on, and we will come back with a concrete proposal. Contact Eata Marisource with your target specifications and we will take it from there.

For Research or Industrial Raw Materials, Not For Personal Medical Use!