Food and Beverage Biotechnology

Impact of biotechnology in F&B Industries

I. Agronomic:

Increase plant and animal yields extend growth range and environment benefits of
farmers

II. Non – agronomic:

Improving plants and microorganism to provide benefit to the food producer,

veterinarians and consumers

Some traditional processed beverages, foods and ingredients created by

biotechnology methods

1. Alcoholic beverages: Beers, wines and spirits.

2. Food and ingredients:

Cheese, Sauerkrau, Enzymes, Vitamins, Bread, Soy sauce, Flavors,

Biopolymers, Vinegar, Tempeh, Organic acid, Sweetener, Yoghurt, Pickles, Amino
acids, Mushrooms

Fermented foods can be divided into nine groups:

1. Beverages: include alcoholic beers, wines, sake, brandy, whisky and non-
alcoholic tea, coffee and cocoa

2. Cereal products,

3. Dairy products,

4. Fish products,
5. Fruit and vegetable products,

6. Legumes,

7. Meat products,

8. Starch crop products

9. Miscellaneous products.

 Sugar Hydrolyzed Simple sugar Incubated with M.O 16%

alc+acid

 Gripes (15-25%) sugar ------> Mechanical crushing (treading of feet)----->

Must

Must -----yeast + ( sulphsr dioxide )---> bioreactors(Time & Temp)----> Wine

((Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages))

Moderate use of wine will lower coronary-heart-disease mortality.

There are five major steps in the manufacture of beers from grains: malting,
mashing, fermentation, maturation and finishing

1. Malting (steep, germination and kilning )to retain enzyme activity (amylase
& protease)

2. Mashing (malt + hot water 55-65 ◦C ---> Starch breaks down---> dextrin ,
maltose and sugars ; Hops may be added prior to the fermentation (flavor and
some antiseptic)
3. Fermentation (wort + yeast [Saccharomyces] ) British 20-28 ◦C top
fermenting and in Europe 10-15 ◦C bottom fermenting

4. Maturation and finishing (Beer is matured in casks at 0◦C for weeks to

improve flavor, settle out the yeasts and remove haze). Bottled are
pasteurized at 60–61◦C for 20 minutes. The alcoholic content of beer is
usually 4–9 %; with ales it is somewhat higher.

Action of Bacteria

 The lactic acid bacteria have beneficial effects in the foods in which they
grow:

1) They have an inhibitory effect (bacteriocins) on many undesirable bacteria

while they themselves are generally harmless; thus preserving the milk.

2) They produce highly acceptable texture and flavor modifications in the milk.

3) They have beneficial health effects on intestinal micro flora(probiotics).

 When growing in milk, these beneficial bacteria break down lactose to lactic
acid; Other reactions can occur, depending on the composition of the
substrate, types of additives and mode of fermentation.

These result in other metabolites being formed, giving distinctive flavour and
appearance to the milk products, e.g. buttermilk, yoghurt and vast range of
cheeses.

 Cheese is made by separating the casein of milk from the liquid or whey.

 The basic steps in most cheese productions are:

1) Acidification of the milk by the conversion of the sugar lactose into lactic
acid by the lactic acid bacteria.

2) Coagulation of the casein by a combination of proteolysis and acidification.

 Proteolysis is started by the rennet (chymosin enzyme) (animal or fungal

origin) and the coagulated caseins form a gel which entraps any fat present.

 The separated curd is cut into blocks, drained and pressed into shapes,
matured and made into cheeses.

 an important recent biotechnological innovation in cheese production has

been the use of recombinant DNA techniques for chymosin production and
commercial use.
 Traditionally, yoghurt is fermented whole milk; the process uses a mixed
culture of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The
characteristic flavour compound, acetaldehyde, is produced by Lb.
bulgaricus while the Strep. thermophilus generates the fresh acid taste by
the conversion of lactose to lactic acid. Both bacteria produce extracellular
polymers that give the characteristic viscosity of the product. Incubation is at
30◦C or 45◦ C.

 Bread in its many local forms is the principal fermented cereal product and
has been known since Roman times. Wheat is a widely used cereal flour &
usually mixed with water or milk, salt, fat, sugar and other ingredients,
together with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As the fermentation
proceeds, the dough rises owing to the formation of CO2. The expansion and
stretching of the dough, particularly with wheat, is due to the unique
extensible and elastic protein gluten. In this way the dough rises and retains
its shape on oven baking.

 While the yeast enzymes have an important role, additional enzymes, e.g.
amylases, are added to assist mixing, fermentation, baking and eventual
storage characteristics of the bread. Modern biotechnology will increasingly
supply improved enzymes to bring even greater control over this complex
process.

 Overall, the fermentation achieves three primary objectives: leavening

(CO2 production), flavor development and texture changes in the dough. At
the end of the fermentation process the risen dough is baked in an oven,
 giving a final product which is free of living microorganisms and which has
an extended shelf-life.

 A genetically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae with improved

fermentation properties has been produced and has passed all regulatory
requirements. In other parts of the world, sourdough breads use yeast
Candida milleri and Lactobacillus sanfrancisco for the fermentation stage,
while Streptococcus and Pediococcus species are used in the Indian
subcontinent to ferment mixtures of cereal and legume flours.

Legume fermentations

The soya bean Glycine max is the main legume used for fermentation,
Fermentation will improve digestibility of the beans by breaking down anti-
nutritional factors and compounds that cause flatulence in the intestine.

In all of the discussed food and beverage fermentations, specific

microorganisms play an indispensable function in achieving the final product.
Starter cultures are now used in all of these fermentations and bring control
and greater uniformity to the end-product(s). In most processes the
microorganisms become part of the food and are consumed intact. In others
e.g. wine, beer, vinegar and soy sauce, the cells are removed by filtration or
centrifugation to eliminate turbidity.

 Enzymes are an essential part of most food and beverage fermentations and,
while most of the enzymes will be derived from participating
microorganisms, increasingly processes are being improved by the direct
 addition of exogenous enzymes. There will be an increasing production of
food enzymes using rDNA biotechnology. Chymosin, for example, is now
exceeds 80% of the market in the USA and Canada.

The accepted use of enzymes by rDNA technology is based on the

following:

1. enzyme preparations are free of any bioprocessing and purification steps.

2. viable-rDNA biotechnology-driven microorganisms are not present in the

final preparation.

 The new concept of protein engineering will facilitate the design or alteration
of food enzymes at a molecular level, allowing minor modifications or the
design of completely novel enzyme catalysts. An important application has
involved the enzyme phospholipase A2, currently used as a food emulsifier.
There is little doubt that the process of protein engineering coupled to gene
cloning technology will be extensively applied to many enzymes used in food
processing, allowing greater accuracy and selectivity of action.

Sweeteners

 In most societies there is a considerable need for sweeteners to accompany

food intake. Up to the late 1960s, sweeteners were mainly cane and beet
sugar – sucrose. Saccharin, which is chemically derived, has been widely
used as a sweetener for many years but is now being increasingly challenged
by new, natural, low-calorific sweeteners, while biotechnological methods
have been used to develop one of the most important additions to this market
– aspartame (derived from a.a. phynel alanine produced on a large scale by
fermentation methods) which is used extensively in many low-calorie ‘diet’
 soft drinks. Thaumatin, a protein extracted from berries of the plant
Thaumatococcus danielli, is the sweetest compound known.

 Sweeteners find extensive markets and applications in soft drinks,

confectionery, jams and jellies, ice cream, canning, baking, fermentation,
pickles and sauces, and meat products – truly an immense market that will
benefit from biotechnological innovations.

 All new biotechnologically derived food products must undergo a

programme of regulatory approval similar to that demanded for new
pharmaceuticals. Approval for aspartame took 10 years.

Miscellaneous microbial-derived food products

1) Vinager

Vinegar is an aqueous solution containing at least 4% acetic acid and small amounts
of esters, sugars, alcohol and salts. It is usually derived from wine, malt or apple
cider. The fermenting bacteria are normally species of Acetobacter. It is widely
used as an acidulant and flavoring compound in processed liquid foods such as
sauces and ketchups.

2) Organic Acids

Citric acid is widely used in the food-related industries in fruit drinks,

confectionery, jams, preserved fruits, etc. manufactured by fermentation processes
involving the fungus Aspergillus niger and molasses as substrate. Citric acid is
used in foods to enhance the flavor, to prevent oxidation and browning, and as a
preservative.

3) Amino Acids & Vitamins

Amino acids are widely used in the food and beverage industries as flavor
enhancers, as seasonings, or as nutritional additives. Glutamic acid and lysine are
two amino acids produced by fermentation processes involving the bacteria
Corynebacterium glutamicum and Brevibacterium flavum respectively.
Extensive mutant selection has produced microorganisms that overproduce these
primary metabolites.

Vitamins are usually used as dietary supplements. However, vitamin C (ascorbic

acid) is used as a food ingredient (antioxidant).

4) Polysaccharides

Extracellular microbial polysaccharides are produced copiously by many

microorganisms and have been used in foods to enhance thickening and to form
gels. They can stabilize food structure and improve appearance and palatability. The
bacterial species mainly used are Pseudomonas spp. (xanthan gums) and
Leuconostoc mesenteroides (dextrans). Species of Acetobacter can produce
cellulose, which forms the basis of certain oriental foods.

5) Flavour Enhancers

 The best-known flavor or sensory enhancer is monosodium glutamate

(found in 80% of processed foods), now largely made by fermentation using
natural or engineered microorganisms. Enzymatic degradation of yeast
RNA can produce nucleotide derivatives which are powerful flavor
enhancers for meat.