1
Microbial Enzymes in Food
Applications
History of Progress
Swati S. Mishra,
1,
* Ramesh C. Ray,
2
Cristina M. Rosell
3
and
Debabrata Panda
1
1. Introduction
It seems now clear that a belief in the functional importance of all enzymes found
in bacteria is possible only to those richly endowed with faith.
—Marjory Stephenson (Biochemist)
Enzymes are very important for sustainability of life in all life forms. They act as
catalysts in chemical reactions. Microbial enzymes are of great importance in the
development of industrial bioprocesses as they play a crucial role as metabolic
catalysts. Enzymes have been applied in food preservation for millennia, and today
they are enabling various food industries to provide the quality and stability of their
products, with increased production effi ciency. Microbial enzymes in food applications
have not only diversifi ed the food industry but also produced economic assets. The
increasing demand for sustainable food has given an increasing drive to the use of
microbial enzymes, knowingly or unknowingly since ages. Microorganisms have
always been the largest and useful sources of many enzymes (Demain, 2008). They
1
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources, Central University of Orissa, Koraput
764020, India; E-mail:
[email protected];
[email protected]
2
ICAR-Regional Centre of Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Bhubaneswar 751019, India.
E-mail:
[email protected]
3
Food Science Department, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, Avda Agustín Escardino
Paterna, Valencia, Spain; E-mail:
[email protected]
* Corresponding author