Biotechnological Production Of Natural Ingredients For Food Industry

The use of biotechnology in the manufacture of food and beverages has been practiced for many years. Because of this important developments over the years, biotechnology can be considered as a significant part of human life and industrial development, enabling the creation of breakthrough products and technologies to combat diseases, protect the environment, increase crop yields and to produce feed, fuels, renewable energy, industrial additives and several other useful products.

Sustainable growth and consistent demand for zero or low-calorie alternative sweeteners by the global market are mainly attributable to public consciousness about health impact of artificial sugar substitutes. Despite limited market for natural sweeteners, a spurt in preference to plant derived-alternative sweeteners is known. Sugar substitutes, such as non-nutritional artificial sweeteners, low calorie or zero calorie natural sweeteners that include sugar alcohols and plant derived non-saccharide sweeteners find use in making various types of foods and beverages. From an industry point of view, approval for usage of sugar substitutes in food products by the regulatory agencies can initiate major trends. These trends can contribute to the safety and health consciousness of consumers and also to food and beverage industries to get better market and price. There is a need to further refine the available technologies for the production of alternative sweeteners, especially natural sweeteners through a plantderived or microbial cell based production platform with the intervention of metabolic engineering to produce novel sweeteners.

L-amino acids and nucleotides find various applications in food biotechnology. L-glutamic acid and its salts as well as 5’-nucleotides are used as flavor enhancers. Other L-amino acids are used as food or feed additives, in parenteral nutrition or as synthons for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. L-amino acids and nucleotides are synthesized from precursors of central carbon metabolism. Based on the knowledge of the biochemical pathways microbial fermentation processes of food, feed and pharma amino acids and of nucleotides have been developed. Production strains of Corynebacterium glutamicum, which has been used safely for more than 50 years in food biotechnology, and Escherichia coli are constantly improved using metabolic engineering approaches. Research towards new processes is ongoing. Fermentative production of L-amino acids in the million-ton-scale has shaped modern biotechnology and its markets continue to grow steadily.

Organic acids are the intermediates or products of many metabolic pathways, such as the Krebs cycle and lactic and acetic fermentations, and are important contributors to the taste and flavor of many fruits, vegetables and also fermented foods. Organic acids are widely applied in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and can be produced by microbial fermentation, chemical synthesis or obtained using enzymes. The demand for organic acids is growing continuously, and numerous efforts and research investments have been made to increase the yield and productivity through the selection of new strains, by obtaining genetically modified microorganisms, optimizing fermentation processes and improving the recovery and purification processes. This chapter focuses on the production and application of citric, acetic, lactic, fumaric, malic, gluconic and ascorbic acids.

Vitamins are a class of molecules that play an essential role in metabolism. In order to enhance or to complete the nutritional value of a food, it is sometimes, necessary to add vitamins during processing. Most vitamins may be produced by chemical synthesis, but the natural sources are both more appealing to the consumer and, sometimes, more bioavailable. Natural and genetically modified microorganisms are a possible alternative to produce vitamins. Another broad class of molecules, nutraceuticals, includes substances which are not essential in diets, but which may have beneficial roles besides that of supplying building blocks, energy, coenzymes and minerals for the body. This chapter presents both the classes of compounds, vitamins and nutraceuticals, their use in processed food, and focuses on the classical and microbial sources of vitamins and then role in the human body, and some representative nutraceuticals. Aminoacids, organic acids, prebiotics, polyunsaturated oils, hydrocolloids, enzymes and other molecules which are bioactive or nutritionally important, but pertinent to other classes of additives, are not discussed in this chapter.

Aroma is one of the main attributes of foodstuff and thousands of volatile compounds are known, contributing to an innumerable number of aroma characters. Aroma compounds may be recovered from natural sources, chemically synthesized or produced by biotechnological means using microorganism and enzymes. This chapter is devoted to the use of biotechnological tools for aroma production, focusing on examples of commercially relevant aroma compounds which are currently produced biotechnologically and on emerging bioprocess approaches used for the microbial production of aroma compounds. Some case studies will be presented to illustrate some aspects of aroma production.

Color additives are a necessity in the modern food industry. These additives are colored because of their peculiar molecular structure, which also frequently imparts other properties such as antioxidant activity. The natural diversity of microorganisms offers several opportunities for the development of “biopigments”, which may be produced with high productivity and without seasonality concerns. While the number of artificial colors used foods is inescapably being reduced, that of permitted natural pigments is slowly growing. It is not possible to simply isolate a colored microorganism strain and use it as an additive: the color must be proven safe, and that is why only a dozen pigments from fungi, yeast, bacteria and microalgae are already permitted and are commercially produced. And yet, these few biopigments are paving the way for new developments, where the knowledge that involves microorganism isolation, bioactivity assays, biomass production and fractionation is used for the study of new alternatives. This chapter gives a general view of permitted natural colors, focusing on commercially relevant microbial biopigments and their production processes.

For centuries, men have used microorganisms for their activities and abilities to produce metabolites of interest such as antibiotics or pigments. Lipids are now under the spotlight as applications can be found in several domains. With the growing awareness of climate change and the depletion of petroleum resources, microbial lipids, which share similar fatty acids profiles with those of vegetable oils currently used in biofuels, compete as potential candidates for the development of green biodiesel. Oleaginous microorganisms can assure this production with substantial productivity, using various low-cost types of substrates. Lipids formed by microorganisms can also be interesting from a dietary point of view, as some microorganisms are able to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids. These PUFAs, such as those belonging to the omega-3 and omega-6 series, are known for their benefits to human health. The use of microorganisms represents a promising way to produce PUFAs at lower cost and with a higher yield. This chapter discusses various potent microorganisms, especially bacteria and fungi, for single-cell oils production designed either for the energy field or the dietary domain, the metabolic ways involved, the culture conditions and the downstream processes of manufacturing.

Hydrocolloids are an heterogeneous group of long chain polymers which have a variety of structures. Hydrocolloids are used in several industrial sectors. In foods, they are used to control and regulate a colloidal state and help in modifying the food sensory properties. Hydrocolloids are obtained from various natural sources such as seaweeds, plant seeds, tubers, plants, microorganisms, and animals. Due to their importance primarily as food additives, the annual use of hydrocolloids is constantly increasing. In this regard, studies on the use of cheaper sources and production processes are always relevant – this includes the production of hydrocolloids by microorganism cultures. This chapter presents the main hydrocolloids, both natural and biotechnologically produced, their main characteristics, and legal aspects of their application in food.

Processed foods depend on conservation methods to ensure biological stability of the product until consumption. Foods in general are a rich source of nutrients, and therefore may support the proliferation of opportunistic microorganisms. Most of these microorganisms only reduce the nutritional value and sensorial quality of the product; but in some cases, pathogenic contaminants may also grow. Traditional antimicrobial additives are decreasing in use due to some disadvantages related to physicochemical and sensory aspects, such as undesirable interactions with the food matrix, accumulation into consumer organism and even possible allergic reactions. Besides food traditional methods for preservation such as acidification or reduction of water activity, a possible strategy for increasing food shelf life is the use of natural antimicrobial compounds. Nowadays, the great challenge of the food industry is to make better use of these additives ensuring product integrity and, at the same time, generate minimal residual effects, avoiding undesirable physicochemical and sensorial modifications. In this context, there is an increasing preference of antimicrobial compounds from natural sources (microbial, animal or plant) targeting a wide use in the production of technologically advanced foods which, besides high quality and healthy, must be biologically friendly, meeting the demands of 21st century consumers.

Surfactants are surface-active microbial products with an amphiphilic structure that allows these to act as emulsifiers, surfactants, foaming and dispersing agents. Biosurfactants have advantages over their chemically synthesized counterparts, such as biodegradability, lower toxicity, activity at extreme temperatures and pH values, besides the ability to be produced using sustainable by-products. Thus, biosurfactants have potential applications in the chemical, petroleum, environmental and pharmaceutical industries. Biosurfactants may also be used as food additives (which are compounds added to enhance the characteristics of food), acting as thickeners, emulsifiers and stabilizers. This chapter discusses the importance of the microbial biosurfactants, their characteristics and potential industrial applications, particularly as food additives.

Enzymes important biocataçysts widely used in food processing and are also useful for generating food ingredients. They may be recovered from animals, plants and mainly microorganisms, which represent the main source of industrial enzymes. This chapter seeks to link the development of new enzymes for food processes involving the requirements of the food industry, including: main companies producing enzymes; main enzymes used for food processing; food enzyme applications, emerging enzymes and production for food processing.