5. Conclusions and outlook

Enzymes have often been used unknowingly for millennia, as in the manufacture of cheese or the staling of meat. Today, however, enzymes are well-known tools enabling relatively targeted transformations to improve the various aspects of food quality. Advances in genetic engineering have made it possible to market concentrated, purified enzymes at prices compatible with the quest for low food costs. This has improved the speed of production and quality of staple foods such as bread, beer and fruit juices. These agents are also widely used to make intermediate food products responsible for texture, aroma, sapid formulation, flavor enhancers and nutritional qualities, as we have seen above. However, these tools remain limited if they require coenzymes to be active. This is particularly the case for many redox reactions and the degradation of free fatty acids. In such cases, the use of micro-organisms...