Today, the broader public demands top-quality, tasty products that contain fewer additives and preservatives, and are produced to high ethical standards. Increasing levels of obesity and chronic disease are forcing individuals to take a much closer look at what they are eating and how they are living. And with the proportion of elderly people in many Western societies rising – accounting for 10% of the world population today, a figure that is expected to double by 2050 – a new awareness of what it means to maintain health and achieve longevity is emerging.
New solutions needed
Enzymes play an essential role in bringing more nutritious and appealing food and beverage products to the modern world, and they offer significant benefits beyond the scope of traditional alternatives.
“Enzymatic solutions are a good place for food and beverage manufacturers to start when they are looking for new solutions that meet the consumers’ need for healthier food,” says Flemming Mark Christensen, Global Marketing Manager for Food & Nutrition at Novozymes. “We have many solutions that have proven to create better tasting and healthier or more nutritious food products.”
Enzymes are not ingredients, but costeffective processing aids that can increase nutritional value, reduce unwanted components
in food, improve flavor, lower allergenicity, and reduce the need for ad ditives. But beyond bringing more nutrition and taste into food, enzymatic solutions can also help manufacturers improve their process economy, which means better business.
And the breadth of solutions is wide: From reducing unwanted components to increasing digestibility, enzymatic solutions can make a difference in many food and beverage products.
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BETTER FOOD AND BEVERAGES WITH ENZYMES
Here are some of the innovative solutions that enzymes bring to the table:
LACTOSE REDUCTION
Milk is a nutritious food, acting as an important source of protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Most infants are born with the enzyme lactase, allowing them to digest lactose, the predominant protein in milk. Yet after infancy, most people’s ability to digest lactose is reduced, meaning that they have difficulties consuming milk and milk-based products. Treating dairy products with highly purified Novozymes Lactozym® Pure makes them readily digestible by virtually everyone.
SODIUM REDUCTION
There is a steady increase in the focus on cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure as a result of excessive sodium intake from food. Yet sodium chloride (salt) is an indispensable ingredient in most meat products, providing the right taste and storage stability, and ensuring a binding functionality. Novozymes Protamex® and Novozymes Flavourzyme® produce meat protein extract (MPE) from a broad range of meats and fish, facilitating a 25–35% reduction in sodium chloride in processed meat products.
PROTEIN FORTIFICATION
Protein-fortified beverages are a popular method for staying healthy in a quick and convenient way. Unfortunately, the vegetable and dairy proteins vital in the preparation of these drinks are often difficult to absorb and bitter in taste. Novozymes Alcalase®, Novozymes Neutrase®, Protamex, and Flavourzyme can be used to create fully soluble proteins, without the bitter taste often associated with them.
ACRYLAMIDE REDUCTION
Since the discovery in 2002 that acrylamide is formed when starchy foods are baked or fried at high temperatures, this natural chemical substance has been raising a number of health concerns. Novozymes Acrylaway® effectively reduces acrylamide formation in a number of biscuit and snack products, and it does so while preserving the taste, texture, and color of the final products. A new solution, Acrylaway CB L, has been launched to reduce the acrylamide content in coffee by up to 70% (see News & Innovation).
REMOVING TRANS FATS
The correlation between unhealthy trans fats and increased levels of bad cholesterol has required manufacturers to reformulate their products. Chemical interesterification and hydrogenation are processes that are widely used to create fats with the desired consistency and a specific melting profile, but both require harsh processing, while hydrogenation also generates trans fats. Novozymes Lecitase® TL IM creates high-quality, healthier fats, with no by-products and no trans fats. |