Applications of Microbial Enzymes in Food Systems and in Biotechnology

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the applications of enzymes in food and biotechnology and suggests the future trends and applications. Selected strains of molds, bacteria, and yeasts are currently used as sources of enzymes for food processing. Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus niger, and Bacillus subtilis are the three most useful, well-known, and safe microbial sources for enzymes. Enzymes have great utility in food processing. For example, the processing of common foods such as bread, beer, cheese, and soft drinks requires microbial enzymes as an integral part of their manufacture. There are several advantages of enzymes in food processing over alternative physical or chemical manipulations. First, enzymes catalyze a specific action, avoiding potentially undesirable side reactions resulting from less specific processing methods, second, the extremes of pH or temperature necessary for chemical or physical treatments are avoided by using enzymes and this minimizes the side reactions as well. Many of the enzymes used in biotechnology are derived from microbial sources. Microbial enzymes are often used in analysis, such as the clinical use of fungal glucose oxidase and bacterial catalase to measure blood glucose to monitor the diabetic condition.