1. Controlling and improving technofunctional properties

1.1 Controlling the organoleptic qualities of foods

Enzymes have long played an important role in determining the characteristics of foods. They act :

• or by being naturally present in animal raw materials (lipase and protease in milk and meat) or vegetable raw materials (protease, oxidase and lipase in seeds);

• either from contaminating micro-organisms or added in the form of sourdough (amylase from yeast, lipase and protease from mushrooms or bacteria used in cheese ripening); these micro-organisms often produce several enzymes capable of catalyzing a sequence of reactions (for example, this is the case with flavoring strain preparations);

• or in the form of a purified...