Membrane filtration processing of infant milk formula alters protein digestion in young pigs

[Display omitted] •Membrane filtration resulted in 59.9% native whey proteins in infant formula.•High native whey protein content accelerated protein digestion.•Membrane filtration infant formula released more free amino acids in the jejunum.•Membrane filtration infant formula had transient effects on pig growth trajectories. Reducing heat treatment (HT) during processing of infant milk formula (IMF) is desirable to produce a product that more closely resembles breast milk. By employing membrane filtration (MEM), we produced an IMF (60:40 whey to casein ratio) at pilot scale (250 kg). MEM-IMF had a significantly higher content of native whey (59.9 %) compared to HT-IMF (4.5 %) (p