Enzymes in Food

Catalog description

The food enzymes market is currently worth billions of dollars while being projected to continue to experience robust growth rates for the foreseeable future. Enzymes are thus becoming an increasingly important part of the food industry, either allowing for new processes or replacing existing chemical catalysts. As consumers become more wary of chemicals added to their foods, enzymes are increasingly being viewed as a more natural solution to food processing challenges. Besides these added enzymes, many foods contain their own enzymes that contribute to and present challenges with food quality and stability. Furthermore, microorganisms responsible for food fermentations and spoilage of foods contain their own enzymes that are ultimately driving these processes. In this course students will learn about the use and manipulation of enzymes in the food industry during processing and fermentation as well as those enzymes naturally present in food and present in spoilage organisms and food borne pathogens. Students will come away from this course with knowledge about the chemistry catalyzed by these enzymes and how they can be exploited and controlled in the food industry to achieve the desired food quality and stability. This will include deeper investigations into both key enzymes in food processing and those of particular relevance to the students¿ research through paper discussions and student-led discussions of relevant enzymes. Thus, students will finish this course better prepared not only to tackle enzyme-related challenges in the food industry, but also aspects of their own research projects that involve enzymes.