What are enzymes? and Why are they used in food manufacturing?

Enzymes are used in many food processes but what are they? are they natural? where did they come from?

First to clear the reputation of enzymes. Yes, they exist in nature. Yes, they have been doing their thing long before we found out that they existed. Yes, they are a vital part of life outside of food processing, including the processes in our very own bodies. I would like to clarify that we humans did not invent enzymes. They are found in all forms of life and viruses! Now a disclaimer: not all enzymes used in the food industry are "naturally" obtained. Enzymes enable majority of the critical reactions to happen and also happen in an efficient way. pretty much all organisms use enzymes to complete vital reactions they need through out their lifespan. If enzymes did not exist then life pretty much would not exist.

I am going to keep this vast topic as brief as I can to suit a "blog". Let's see how I manage.

Most (except RNA catalysts) Enzymes are proteins. They are catalysts. They speed up the reaction without getting changed. So, they go in to the reaction and then come out unchanged allowing them to be re-used! Cool ha?

Enzyme binds to a substrate. Substrate is what we call the material the enzyme is going to act on and change it into the desired product(s). Enzymes have active sites that are designed by nature to complement the unique shape of the substrate they are designed to act on. This site can be either like a lock and key model (substrate fitting exactly to the site on the enzyme) OR what we call "induce fit model", as the substrate gets into the active site of the enzyme the site changes slightly making it even more complementary to the substrate.

Enzymes are named to be somewhat telling of what they are intended for. Ex: Lactase breaks down lactose, sucrase breaks down sucrose, proteases break down peptide bonds in proteins, lipases break down lipids...So far pretty straight forward yes?

Let's do a quick example: sucrase is an enzyme that breaks down the sugar sucrose. sucrose (the sugar molecule) fits into the specific active site of sucrase for the enzyme to do its job. It catalyzes the reaction of breaking down the sugar into 2 new molecules: glucose and fructose.

Therefore, in the above reaction, an enzyme (sucrase) and a substrate (sugar) will bind to each other and turn into the enzyme substrate complex. They will then react and 3 molecules came out of at the end of the reaction: the enzyme, and 2 new products (glucose + fructose). See my creative imaging techniques below for :)

Enzymes don't change the temperature of the reaction

Enzymes don't change the final destination of the reaction. You still create the same product that you would have without the enzyme.

Enzymes reduce the activation energy for the reaction which enables the reaction to be completed faster! They basically let your reaction catch a bullet train rather than kid's tricycle. Why we love enzymes as food processors!

Enzymes are sensitive to pH - most enzymes have an optimum pH where it is working at its highest rate, somewhere between 6 and 8 (why? because your body has an optimal pH range of 6 and 8). However, there are enzymes that work at very different pH. for example pepsin breaks down proteins and its optimum pH is 2-3, because its workplace is your stomach where it is very acidic.

They are sensitive to temperature, just like pH, enzymes have an optimal temperature at which the rate is maximum. if you move temperature away from the optimal temperature then the rate decreases very quickly.

Now, temp is quite important for enzyme activity because if the temperature is too high the enzyme can be denatured. Actually, that is exactly how enzyme deactivation (aka enzyme kill steps) steps work. Once we get the enzyme to do what we want then we crank up the temperature and hold it until the enzyme activity is gone. What I have seen many times is in-proper deactivation step for a process that used enzymes. In such situations the enzyme keeps on working and can cause unfortunate situations like product that is mushy, or protein that is over chopped up becoming extra bitter and so on...

Can you just add bunch of enzymes into a system? Well, answer depends on many parameters but you need to know that enzyme rate also depends on concentration. As expected if there are more enzyme and catalyst to go around then there will be more enzyme-substrate complexes formed resulting in more product generation from the substrate. Like everything in life there is an optimum limit that you can hit if you increase concentration too much.

You might have also heard the terms inhibitors or activator. Competitor inhibitors: wants to bind the active site of the enzyme and block it and prevent the substrate from binding there. Basically, as the name states it, it is competing with the substrate for the same active site on the enzyme. Then there are the non-competitive inhibitors. They will bind to a different (not the one substrate wants) site, called allosteric site, of the enzyme. Once this happens the enzyme changes shape and can no longer bind with your substrate. Your food formulation system could have inhibitors that you are not aware of. It is important to truly understand all components in your system, all process steps, process aids, water quality, etc. Experience in food formulation comes in hand here. As I always tell my product developers, know the ingredient, the food matrix and the process triangle of your story. Understand interactions. If your product development initiative is not working out there is a logical reason hiding inside that triangle!

So, enzymes are vital part of life's processes helping reactions happen, happen easier and creating new products!

But how did they end up in commercial food manufacturing processes?

Now that we have had a basic level of intro into what enzymes are and how they work lets jump into what we use them for in the food industry. As I mentioned, enzymes we use are invented by nature and not us. We, as food scientists, working in the food industry, have copied what nature has been doing for many years in order to speed up processes, increase production volumes, help with product quality, enhance characteristics that are desirable for us and more. We use various sources to create the enzymes we need in order to operate the food industry at the scales that are needed to be sustainable, reproducible, and at the highest quality achievable. Go to process is called fermentation using bacteria and fungi.

Enzymes really do help us make healthier foods! They help us do things that would make us use chemicals to achieve at the commercial scales we need to operate to meet the demands (something we'll get in in another blog) of the industry.

Classes of enzymes used in the food industry:

Proteases - beaks peptide bonds. Many proteases exist that can have unique protein cleaving functions to achieve different results.

Lipases - breaks down ester bonds in fats. they are present in pancreatic secretions and help with fat digestion. They turn fats into emulsifiers (will do a blog on this one day) which then helps with product uniformity, coating of molecules to help with shelf-life.

Amylases - breaks down amylase, starch found in the baked goods we love. Using them in baked goods helps us break down the starch which then inhibits the starch degradation resulting in better shelf life in baked goods.

Cellulases, xylanases, maltase: breaks down glycosidic bonds, helps with breaking down cellulose and other polysaccharides.

Glucose and hexose oxidases: oxidation of such sugars. Results in gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide.

Lipoxygenases: fatty acid oxidation. Can have negative impact on flavor of your product. This enzyme natural exists in many foods. Example: soy beans. Know what you introduce into your matrix.

Transferases: as the name states they transfer a functional unit. They are typically used in crosslinking to strengthen structures. However, they can also be used for "special" encapsulation projects: for ex: multilayer encapsulation done by protein-protein cross linking to protect valuable components inside the micelles.

But why are we using these enzymes to do the above reactions? well, many reasons but mostly for product quality enhancement, shelf-life enhancement and obviously process cost reduction!

Here are some of the ways they help us achieve better, longer lasting and cheaper products:

Process optimizer: conditioning dough, processability, workability, speeding up process. Lipoxygenases help with dough strengthening, dough tolerance to processing, dough volume, and bleaching of the product! Proteases help with reducing mixing time, machinability, dough handling and redistribution of water.

Product texture, mouthfeel, visual appeal. For example lipases stabilize gas cells in baked goods, softens crumbs. Maltase helps with crust color.

Flavor developer: amylases, maltase, lipases help with flavor development.

enhancing fermentation, helps with texture, quality

Healthier foods: Asparaginase helps with Acrylamide reduction which is a known carcinogen.

Fighting with digestive intolerances, lactase breaks lactose into galactose and glucose resulting reduced sugar and increased fiber. Proteases break down gluten...

Shelf-life, Lipases break down and emulsify fats which then helps with slowing staling and crumb texture. Amylases breaking down amylose into smaller molecules prevents the recrystallization of long chain starches thus helping with shelf life by inhibiting starch degradation.

Lets do a quick dive into the food industries that use enzymes:

- Dairy industry: milk clotting enzymes (ex: chymosin, which is a protease), cheese ripening enzymes (usually multiple used for ripening. hydrolases and metabolic enzymes), lipases (for cheese flavor technology), lysozyme (control agent for late browning), Lactoperoxidase (secreted from mammary glands that acts as a first line of defense against bacteria and viruses used as a protective system), lactase (breaks down lactose into glucose and galactose turning the product into a lower sugar and higher fiber beverage), proteases (lessen allergic properties), catalase, esterase and more...

-Fruit and vegetable processing: pectinases for beverages, cellulases for beverages, xylanases for clarification in juice applications, amylases account for majority of the enzymes used in the food industry used also in brewing, fruit juices and syrups. Amylases are also heavily used in baking industry.

-Meat applications: enzymes used for tenderization of the meat, flavor developing, and processing. protease and lipases are used often.

-Baking: Enzymes have been used in baked goods for a long time. Especially in bread production. Enzymes added to dough formula help with process time, dough rheology, product shelf-life, reduction of variability, gas retention and volume (hey we eat with our eyes first so we all want breads that have nice cell structure and visual appeal) elimination of chemical additives, flavor developing, texture developers, and crumb softness. No brainer, yeah?

Dough rheology is critical in large scale production thus making it more "workable" or "machinable". Depending on the baked good the dough might need to be more elastic (ex: in cracker applications), or the dough would need to be more processable in the mixed to get a more uniform product. Reducing the energy input into the dough mixer and mixing time reduction is an important part of cost reduction in bakery plants.

Remember to consider the endogenous enzymes before you introduce your own enzymes into the process. Sometimes enzymes already present can counter the work you are doing with the enzyme you have introduced. For example they could be in ingredients such as some nuts, avocados contain lipases or you they could be brought in by microorganisms present in ingredients you use will have their own proteases, lipases, starch "chopping" enzymes and more.

I have given a brief into into enzymes and SOME of their usage. Enzyme usage in food industry is for sure not limited to what you see in this blog! Again, to make the right decisions for any ingredient usage, you need know your system, ingredient interactions and your process unit operations. To know more about enzymes, let us know.

Food companies have been very busy in the recent years in regards to enzyme utilization and innovative ways to use enzymes. Cant blame them, enzymes simply allow you to make cool products, reduce operational costs and increase quality. They give you edge over competition if applied correctly and in a differentiating manner than the competitions process. This has resulted in many patents around enzymes, processes that utilize enzymes and products that are made via enzyme technology. I have successfully utilized enzymes for various process in the food industry in order to improve my product quality, reduce processing time and enable easier processing. Wanna know more, reach out via out contact us link and we will be happy to help out!

Questions for the blog:

What are your thoughts on patenting enzymes that nature has invented and utilized in a very similar manner to us? It seems quite understandable to patent a mass production of enzyme making but how about patenting the process the enzyme is used to convert one sugar into another? Does that go under a new invention? After reading this how is your feeling towards enzymes? Do they sound as some artificial components that men has invented still? or are you more accepting to see enzymes utilized in food, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries more?