Abstract

Pure amino acid chelates and a method of their production are disclosed. The amino acid chelates are free of contaminating inorganic anions. The chelate consists of a metal ion comprising iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, copper, calcium and mixtures thereof. The metal ion is chelated to one or more ligands comprising alpha amino acids, protein hydrolysates, polypeptides, dipeptides, and combinations thereof. A novel process is disclosed wherein the amino acid ligand is brought into reactive contact with a divalent metal ion in an environment which is completely anion free but otherwise conducive to the interaction between the amino acid ligand and the metal ion, with the formation of an amino acid chelate in pure form or, at least, which can readily be recovered from the reactive environment in pure form.