Enzymes are biological catalysts (Biocatalysts!); they speed up chemical reactions in a natural way. Enzymes are not alive and they are not a form of living organism, they are simply inert materials made of protein.

The naming of enzymes is quite simple, all enzymes end in the suffix “ase” preceded by the substrate e.g. PROTEINASE catalyses the hydrolysis of proteins, CELLULASE catalyses the hydrolysis of cellulose.

Enzymes are typically derived from plants, micro-organisms (yeast, bacteria or fungi) or animal tissue (e.g. protease from pancreas).

Enzymes are essential to the food processing industry. There are many benefits that can be provided by the use of enzymes including:

• Increasing yield
• Increasing throughput
• Reducing waste
• Solving filtration problems
• Reducing the size of process plants
• Producing new and exciting flavours
• Producing improved textures to foodstuffs

Within the food industry there are key sectors which utilise the power of enzymes:

• Dairy industry including rennet for cheese production and lipases and protease for enzyme modified cheese (a form of processed cheese)
• Fruit and vegetable processing
• Functional protein manufacture
• Brewing
• Baking

Outside the food industry enzymes are used in production of fine chemical, in diagnostic kits, in the detergent industry and sugar processing.

Have you realised the power of Biocatalysts?