ABSTRACT
Enzymes have been in use in industrial processes for a very long time, nowhere more than in the food and drink industry where so many products are based on fermentations. The use of enzymes free from the producing organism has been increasing steadily particularly in the years since World War Two, and they are now involved in numerous industrial processes. This chapter considers the general characteristics of enzymes, as they are currently used, then some examples of uses, and finally returns to future prospects. Industrial enzymes have been separated into those which carry out well defined reactions on small substrates, and those which attack polymers and are probably mixtures of enzymes with the result that they can act on a range of bonds with apparent wide specificity. The more thermostable bacterial proteinases are generally used only in biscuit and pizza dough where the higher cooking temperature rapidly inactivates the enzymes and prevent over-proteolysis and “stickiness”.
