9 - Microbial Enzymes in Food and Beverages Processing

Abstract

Enzymes are natural products, without the food and beverages processing would not be possible. The exogenous enzymes facilitate the process, enhance quality, make processing shorter, and more constant. The widespread use of enzymes for food and beverages processing is a well-established approach but the latest techniques for the designing of new biocatalysts are built to make the useful applications of biological agents more precious. The improved microbial enzymes should be more stable to temperature and pH, less reliant on metal ions, and less liable to inhibitory agents as well as to aggressive environmental conditions, while maintaining the under attack activity or evolving novel activities. The whole contributes for developing sustainable and environmentally friendly processes, since there is a low amount of by-products, hence reducing the need for complex, downstream process operations, and the energy requirements are relatively low. To improve the bioavailability of minerals as well as production of nutraceuticals and minimize off odors in various food processes technologies the different enzymes viz., asparaginase, lactase, lipase, transglutaminase, protease, and pectinase are employed widely for clarification, removing lactose, cheese ripening, and meat tenderization. Similarly other enzymes such as phytase, complex of cellulose, and xylanase are gaining importance in different food process technologies. In this chapter, we are discussing the different microbial enzymes along with sources and their role and functions in different food and beverages processes.