Patent ID: 8753668

Claim:
A method for processing yeast cells comprising: (a) autolyzing the yeast cells at a temperature of 50° C. to 65° C. to release yeast cell walls; (b) incubating the cell walls with an exogenous protease at a pH of 9 to 10; (c) incubating the protease-treated cell walls of step (b) with an enzyme comprising at least one of an amylase, lipase and a combination thereof; (d) separating the enzyme-treated cell walls of step (c) into a glucan-enriched component and a mannan-enriched component; and (e) separately retaining said glucan-enriched component and said mannan-enriched component; wherein said glucan-enriched component of step (e) can be added to an animal feed or to a product selected from a food supplement, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and neutraceutical.