What Are Fish Amino Acids & Protein Hydrolysate?
- Johanna Tanhuanpää
- Sep 18
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 14
Fish Amino Acids (FAA)
Fish amino acids are mostly free amino acids (plus some very small peptides) obtained from fish or fish by-products, like heads, bones and viscera.
Obtaining fish amino acids is not a very complicated process. In practice, they can relatively easily be made by fermentation:
Fresh fish waste is mixed with something like molasses or brown sugar.
Microbes and naturally occurring enzymes slowly break down the fish proteins.
Over weeks/months, proteins get chopped right down into free amino acids.
Key features of fish amino acids include:
Often liquid, dark, and with a distinct fishy smell.
High content of free amino acids, which are quickly absorbed by leaves and roots as directly usable “building blocks”.
Can easily be produced small scale on farm.
Can help plants under stress (heat, drought, salinity).
Provide some N (nitrogen), plus organic compounds that can stimulate plant metabolism.
Fish Protein Hydrolysate (FPH)
Fish protein hydrolysate is a product made by breaking fish proteins into smaller peptides + amino acids, but not always all the way into free amino acids. It can be thought of as as a “partially digested” fish protein.
Fish protein hydrolysate is usually made via controlled enzymatic hydrolysis:
Start with fish meat or by-products.
Add specific proteolytic enzymes (e.g., from microbes, plants, or animals).
Control temperature, pH, and time.
Stop the reaction when you reach the desired degree of hydrolysis.
Separate out insoluble parts (like bones, scales, some fat).
Key features of fish protein hydrolysate include:
Contains peptides (short chains of amino acids) and free amino acids.
Often industrially produced, standardized hydrolysate with known peptide profile.
Often dried into a powder or concentrated into a thick liquid.
More standardized than simple fermented FAA mixes.
In plants, certain peptides act as signaling molecules and biostimulants to improve stress tolerance.
