Bioprocesses in Food Industry Ray Underwood

Bioprocessing has been used for a long time in the production of food. In fact, as early as 3,500 B.C., Sumerian brewers were using bioprocessing to create a popular beverage many drinkers still enjoy today. Bioprocessing, as the name suggests, uses living organisms and their components in the creation of new products. Bioprocessing is often used to manufacture pharmaceuticals, sustainable materials, alternative fuels, and even many of the foods we enjoy. Biotechnology as applied to food processing in most developing countries makes use of microbial inoculants to enhance properties such as the taste, aroma, shelf-life, texture and nutritional value of foods.The process whereby micro-organisms and their enzymes bring about these desirable changes in food materials is known as fermentation. Fermentation processing is also widely applied in the production of microbial cultures, enzymes, flavours, fragrances, food additives and a range of other high value-added products. These high value products are increasingly produced in more technologically advanced developing countries for use in their food and non-food processing applications. Many of these high value products are also imported by developing countries for use in their food-processing applications. Food, food- biocatalists and bioprocessing industries face great challenges in order to develop and establish systems to develop high quality, safety foods, as well as feeds and other industrial goods, environmentally acceptable and in a sustainable way. The text is supported by numerous clear informative diagrams. The book would be highly useful to the postgraduate students and researchers of applied biology, biotechnology, microbiology and biochemical engineering.