New, multifunctional, cost effective macerating enzyme from Biocatalysts Ltd

After extensive research and feedback from customers, Biocatalysts Ltd has developed a new fruit and vegetable processing enzyme.

Depol™ 793L is a cost-effective enzyme for all fruit and vegetable juice applications and includes benefits such as increasing juice yields (due to maximum maceration of plant tissues) whilst still retaining the colour. This multi-functional product can be used over a wide pH range and eliminates the need to use more than one enzyme product, which offers considerable cost savings to the end user.

Enzymes help to improve meat tenderisation

Enzyme based marinade formulations can significantly improve meat quality. Enzymes help to soften and tenderise the meat, improve its texture, break down connective tissue and improve its flavour. At several stages during the processing of the meat, enzymes can add value; from the slaughter house to cooking.

Biocatalysts Ltd can offer a range of plant and fruit derived enzymes that are ideal for use in marinades. Promod™ 144P and Promod™ 184P are both particularly suited for use in meat tenderising marinades. Promod™ 144P works efficiently on tougher types of meat such as steak, and is the best option if you want a cost effective tenderising enzyme; whereas Promod™ 184P is soluble in oil and therefore suitable for oil based marinades.

Enzyme for Natural Vanilla Extraction - Depol™ 40L

Vanilla is one of the most universally used flavours in many industries, particularly the food industry.

Depol™ 40L is a specially developed enzyme to aid the yielding and quality of the natural vanilla extract from vanilla pods.

In addition to its macerating activity, Depol™ 40L contains a wide range of exo-glycosidase activities which are particularly useful in releasing active flavours from their bound inactive forms. This allows a more efficient extraction of valuable plant components, increasing the extracted yield of flavours. The enzyme hydrolyses the precursor glucovanillin to vanillin, which is the desired product.

Enzymes Improve English Muffins

Over half the English muffins manufactured in the UK are produced using Combizyme 666P, a product developed specifically for the improvement of English muffins. Conditioning the gluten present in the flour with a blend of enzymes allows the dough to spread better in the griddle cup, thus enhancing the texture and quality of the muffin.

Combizyme 666P is just one of the specialist products Biocatalysts offers for baking applications. Furthermore, as a company dedicated to the innovative use of speciality enzymes we invest 10% turnover in R&D and are currently exploring new opportunities in batters, cakes and confectionary products. If you would like to be part of this exciting opportunity, or are interesting in finding out more about our products, email enquiries@biocats.com

Chondroitin Sulphate For Joint Health

A Mintel report (2008) on Functional foods states that, in the UK, 20% of people aged 55+ use their diet to improve their bone structure/ joint health. Furthermore, the 2nd fastest growing sector within functional foods is related to bone and joint health and this area can only become more lucrative as the population ages. The main benefit of chondroitin sulphate as a supplement is its effectiveness in the repair and maintenance of joint tissues; it is particularly useful for older individuals.

Biocatalysts Promod™ 648L is an enzyme used to hydrolyse cartilage from a variety of sources e.g. bovine trachea, in order to produce a high yield of high purity chondroitin sulphate with a low molecular weight. The main advantage of Promod 648L is its combination of performance and cost effectiveness. Tests have demonstrated that Promod™ 648L is at least as effective as competing products but is also less expensive to use.

Intracellular Enzyme Manufacture fills Market Niche

Whilst many companies offer extracellular enzyme development services, Biocatalysts Ltd, a speciality enzyme company, is exploiting their expertise by focusing on the intracellular fermentation and down stream processing of enzymes.

Despite the fact that they have yet to fully publicise this service, companies in search of a reliable partner are finding their way to this specialist UK based company. With over 70 years experience of fermentation, protein purification and analysis between the 2 key members of the team, there are few problems in this area that Biocatalysts can’t solve.

Clients are finding the company’s ability to increase the end product yield several fold to be suitably cost effective in these difficult financial times. Also one of the key areas of focus at Biocatalysts is the stabilization of the enzyme. Many companies develop and process the enzymes under low temperatures as it offers the best outcome early in the process. However, if the product has to shipped or stored it is essential that further stabilization work is carried out to ensure the product can reach it’s end destination with it’s full functional range of activities.

Many key services can be offered including fermentation, downstream processing, extraction and purification and assay validation. For companies needing to screen, optimize or scale up a commercially available enzyme there is now a company willing and able to do it all.

Non-bitter Whey Protein Hydrolysates For Nutrition Products

The exceptional nutritional value of whey protein means that it is becoming increasingly popular as an ingredient in nutrition bars, sports supplements and various food and beverage items in the mainstream food market. It is an easily digestible complete protein and is the perfect choice for sports nutrition products. However, whey protein hydrolysates can have a bitter, unpalatable taste necessitating the use of masking agents to conceal this ‘off-taste’ in the final product.

Biocatalysts has developed a single-step enzyme system, called FlavorproWhey 750P, which generates an exceptional hydrolysate without bitterness. This non-bitter and soluble hydrolysate is ideal for use in beverages and nutritional bars without detrimentally affecting the flavour of the end product. It eliminates the need to add undesirable flavourings or additives and is a cost-effective solution.

Creative Thinking Eases Recession For Target Driven Companies

As companies cast around for ways of saving money during the pending recession, it would seem unlikely that spending more is high on their agenda. However, for an increasing number of companies spending a little, to achieve a good ROI, is exactly what they are doing. Senior executives are setting targets for cutting costs and reducing waste and are looking at extra-ordinary methods of achieving this.

Biocatalysts Ltd, a speciality enzyme company based in the UK, offers a wide range of products that can be used by companies to achieve 2 major benefits, increasing product yield and correspondingly reducing waste, within many market sectors including beverage and protein.

Fruit processors macerating whole fruit will want to ensure they extract every last millilitre of juice from their crop and using enzymes to achieve this is a very cost effective option. Yield can increase as much as 20% but you can also achieve increases in anthocyanin levels which has an effect on colour and therefore profitability of some end products.

Enzymes can also be used to upgrade waste streams to produce valuable second streams of income as demonstrated by the brewing industry.

As both economic and environmental targets become more stringent, speciality enzymes provide a hitherto unexplored method of achieving these objectives and Biocatalysts offers full technical and commercial support to companies looking to investigate their options.

Enzymes For Wine: Faster Filtration + Lower Costs

Enzymes are natural oenological tools. Whilst they exist endogenously within the grape their activities can be dramatically enhanced by the addition of exogenous enzymes. A wine-maker can achieve improved extraction yield, clarification, filtration and even flavour without jeopardising the traditional methods that have been adhered to for centuries.

For example, Biocatalysts’ Pectinase 444L is a high strength liquid pectinase preparation specifically designed for improving extraction, clarification and filtration of fruit juice including wine must. Pectinase 444L also contains low levels of pectin esterase activity ensuring that virtually no methanol is produced by the demethylation of pectin. A dose of just 20ml per tonne of Pectinase 444L is all that is required and the resultant faster filtration saves time and reduces costs.