Hen egg white (A) and gelatin (G) composites at different proportions were prepared and optimized by their stress-strain behavior. The optimized composite (AG) was graft copolymerised with methyl methacrylate (MMA). The AG and its graft copolymer AGMMA were characterized for their mechanical strength, water absorption capacity, Fourier transform infrared spectra, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. It was evident from the results that AGMMA possesses higher mechanical strength and lower water absorption capacity than does AG. The FTIR spectra of AG and AGMMA confirm the grafting phenomena of MMA onto AG, and the CD spectrum of AG shows two negative bands at around 207 and 222 nm and a positive band at around 191.76 nm, which confirms the a-helix in the composite. The a-helical structure in AG was broken and converted into unordered random coil in AGMMA because of the reaction conditions while grafting MMA onto AG, which was confirmed by the increase in mechanical strength of AGMMA. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.