1. Enzyme Activity

2. B-3.03 -- Enzyme Activity in Food
Effects on Food
Positive effects:
Make food easier to eat – meat tenderizer
Preserve food – change milk into cheese
Improve flavor, quality, or appearance – add lactase to produce lactose-free dairy products.
Negative effects:
Enzymatic browning
Spoilage
B Enzyme Activity in Food

3. B-3.03 -- Enzyme Activity in Food
Make Food Easier to Eat
Meat tenderizers, enzymes that can be added:
during aging
prior to cooking
Enzymes break down tough protein fibers for a more tender product.
B Enzyme Activity in Food

4. B-3.03 -- Enzyme Activity in Food
Preserve Food
Converting milk into cheese increases shelf-life of milk.
Rennin (an enzyme) is added to coagulate milk proteins.
Some enzymes are also released by bacterial cultures to create unique flavors, textures, and colors.
B Enzyme Activity in Food

5. Improve flavor, quality, or appearance
Amylases – baked goods
Invertase – artificial honey and candy
Lactase – lactose- free milk
Pectic enzymes – fruit juices
Protease – baked goods, meat
Rennin -- cheese
B Enzyme Activity in Food

6. B-3.03 -- Enzyme Activity in Food
Enzymatic Browning
Reaction of oxygen and the enzyme (phenolase)
Results in desirable and undesirable color and structure changes
Desirable changes – browning of raisins, figs, dates
Undesirable changes -- fruit becomes discolored, mushy, bruised
B Enzyme Activity in Food

7. Preventing Enzymatic Browning
Prevent oxygen from combining with the enzyme phenolase
Cold storage slows enzyme activity.
Add preservatives, such as:
sulfites,
ascorbic acid,
citric acid, and/or
acetic acid
B Enzyme Activity in Food

8. B-3.03 -- Enzyme Activity in Food
Spoilage
Prolonged enzyme activity can cause food to spoil.
Overripening of fruit
Food processors control enzymatic activity by:
replacing oxygen to slow action of oxidases
B Enzyme Activity in Food