Blood is used in food as an emulsifier, a stabilizer, a clarifier, a color additive, and as a nutritional component. Most blood is used in livestock feed in the form of blood meal. It is used as a protein supplement, a milk substitute, a lysine supplement or a vitamin stabilizer, and is an excellent source of most of the trace minerals. Blood plasma has ability to form a gel, because it contains 60.0% albumin.

Plasma is the best water and fat binder of the blood fraction. Plasma gels appear very similar to cooked egg whites. Plasma forms a gel at a protein concentration of 4.0 - 5.0%. The strength of the gel increases with increasing concentration. Cooked ham to which were added 1.5 and 3.0% frozen blood plasma, and hot dogs with 2.7% added plasma, were more satisfactory in color than those without it.

Blood plasma also has excellent foaming capacity, and can be used to replace egg whites in the baking industry. The applica-tion of transglutaminase (TGase) from animal blood and organs or microbes to meat products has received a great deal of research.

Blood factor XIII is a transglutaminase that occurs as a enzymogen in plasma, placenta and platelets. Transglutaminase was first extracted from bovine blood in 1983, in order to improve the binding ability of fresh meat products at chilling temperature. It showed how myosin was cross-linked by TGase. An important property of the TGase reaction was documented when cross-linking between myosin and proteins (soy, casein and gluten), all commonly used in meat processing, was found. Moreover, the restructured meat products can be processed without heating, and their salt and phosphate content reduced, by the addition of TGase from animal blood.