To increase the availability of enzymes used in cheese production,
the reuse of recombinant camel chymosin immobilized on eggshell membrane
using glutaraldehyde was studied and reported for the first time.
The catalytic activity, measured as the ability of the chymosin to
sediment proteins from skim milk, was conserved in the immobilized
state compared with the free enzyme. Under the experimental conditions
used here, glutaraldehyde did not affect the enzyme activity. The
immobilized chymosin remains stable for up to 9 days and can be reused
for at least six cycles. In conclusion, chicken eggshell membranes,
available as waste material from the poultry industry, are an adequate,
useful, and cheap natural matrix for chymosin immobilization.