Transepithelial transport efficiency of bovine collagen hydrolysates in a human Caco-2 cell line model

•Collagen hydrolysates were produced by Alcalase, Flavouzyme, and trypsin.•Transepithelial transport was studied in a Caco-2 cell line.•Alcalase-Flavourzyme (AF) treatment yielded very low molecular weight peptides.•The transepithelial transport efficiency was the greatest for the AF treatment. Collagen was extracted from raw bovine hide and hydrolyzed by one of three enzymes – Alcalase, Flavourzyme, or trypsin – or by using a combination of two or three of these enzymes. The Alcalase-containing enzymatic hydrolysis treatments generated a greater proportion of hydrolysates with molecular weight (MW)