Enzymes in food and feed: past, present and future

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the use of enzymes in the food and feed preparation. Human beings are consuming more and more processed food products, in the production of which enzymes play an important, though rather empirical role. For the production of these processed foods, one can distinguish two main routes. The first one is direct production of food products from plant raw material by using enzymes or intact microorganisms producing enzymes. Examples of this are: bread from wheat flour, sugar or sugar syrups from starch, wine from grapes, beer from barley or other cereals, fruit juices from apples, and pears or other fruits.. The alternative route uses domestic animals as an intermediate. Here the plant raw materials are processed in animal feed and man consumes the animal derived products, such as milk, eggs, and meat. The use of enzyme (preparations) in the different food and/or feed applications used to be rather empirical and based more or less on intuition or experience. However, the increased knowledge of substrate and enzyme structures by sophisticated technology, such as X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, and the development of rec-DNA helped to put a more rational basis under the enzyme applications.