Zein: A History of Processing and Use

Corn is the largest and most important agricultural commodity in America. Zein, one of the components in corn, has long been investigated for uses other than food and feed. Zein is a unique and complex material, and it is one of the few cereal proteins extracted in a relatively pure form. Today, because of environmental concerns, interest in zein utilization is again growing. Some of the more important research on zein is more than 50 years old. Most of this work has been either forgotten, lost, or difficult to locate. Much of this work was done at the USDA laboratory in Peoria, IL. Since most early zein literature is still easily accessible at that laboratory, this review on zein has been prepared making use of this old literature. This review reexamines the old literature and reconciles it with new zein research to illustrate some of the unique properties of and opportunities for zein.