Fundamentals of enzyme activity

Abstract

The importance of enzymes to the food industry can be appreciated by considering the wide range of commercial enterprises covered in Chapters 4 to 10 of this book. Enzymes are capable of specifically manipulating all the major biological macromolecules, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids, as well as smaller molecules such as amino acids, sugars and vitamins. This is the prime reason for the importance of enzymes to the food industry. The raw material at the start of any food-processing line contains a wide range of endogenous enzymes. Some of these enzymes will be active during and after processing, which could be either advantageous or deleterious to the processing. A good example of this is the action of pectinase enzymes, which are often advantageous during the preparation of fruit juices, resulting in clarification of the final product (Chapter 7). However, excessive pectinase activity remaining in canned fruit can result in over-softening and deterioration of the product (Luh et al., 1978). As well as employing such endogenous enzymes, many food processors use exogenous enzymes to improve the end product.