Collagen Beauty Drink Mix

Hydrolysed collagen - collagen peptides - is what you get when collagen is first converted to gelatin and then cut further by controlled enzymatic hydrolysis. That second cut is the entire product. It drops the average molecular weight to roughly 2 to 5 kDa, destroys the gelling behaviour so the material has no Bloom value at all, and leaves a powder that dissolves cold and clear at 10% w/v with a viscosity close to water. Gelatin gels and collagen peptides do not, and a buyer who confuses the two ends up with a drink that sets in the cup. Protein content runs at not less than 90% on a dry basis, calculated as nitrogen times 5.55 rather than the general-food 6.25, because collagen carries about 18% nitrogen. The amino-acid signature is the identity test: glycine sits at roughly every third residue in the Gly-X-Y repeat of the collagen triple helix, and hydroxyproline - which almost no other dietary protein carries in quantity - is the marker used to confirm the material really is collagen and not a cheaper protein hydrolysate. A beauty drink is not bulk peptide in a sachet. Around the collagen base sits L-ascorbic acid (CAS 50-81-7, C6H8O6), fermentation-derived sodium hyaluronate (CAS 9067-32-7; free acid 9004-61-9) at a molecular weight the buyer picks, and optionally D-biotin (CAS 58-85-5) and zinc, plus the acidulant, sweetener, flavour and anticaking system that make ten grams of protein powder pleasant to drink cold. Vitamin C is not decoration in this formula: it holds the EU authorised claim that it contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin, which is one of the few compliant statements a beauty drink can carry in Europe. Biotin's authorised claim covers the maintenance of normal skin and zinc's covers the maintenance of normal nails. The collagen peptides themselves hold no authorised EU health claim, and nothing here is offered as a treatment for any condition. Source is the commercially decisive question and it is settled before anything else in the brief. Bovine or bubaline hide gives Type I collagen and is the volume route out of India; it is bovine material, neither vegetarian nor vegan, and ships with species declaration, country of origin and TSE/BSE documentation, with halal and kosher certification available on qualifying lines. Marine collagen from fish skin and scale is also predominantly Type I, denatures at a lower temperature than the mammalian material, and carries a declarable fish allergen under EU Annex II and US FALCPA - a wrong or missing declaration there is a recall, not a paperwork problem. Porcine runs on request and rules out both halal and kosher. Purity is held on the gelatin pattern of European Pharmacopoeia monograph 0330, with sulphur dioxide not above 50 mg/kg and heavy metals not above 10 ppm, alongside Salmonella absent in 25 g. Formats are single-serve stick packs, bulk jars and canisters, and ready-to-drink bottles or shots - and the format changes the tariff line, which is dealt with in the classification note.