Recent developments in enzyme immobilization for food production

Enzymes are globular proteins with catalytic activity with wide use in the food industry. Formulations developed to produce such biocatalysts as insoluble particles through enzyme immobilization have been developed to enhance their applicability and overcome some shortcomings toward cost-effective commercial processes. When properly performed, immobilization can enhance enzyme stability, specificity, and activity. Moreover, immobilization enables biocatalyst reuse or continuous use, widens the setup of biocatalytic systems, and eases downstream processing. Immobilization can be performed either by attaching/entrapping the enzyme to/inside a carrier or by cross-linking enzyme molecules to provide a large and insoluble network. Hence, the properties of the immobilized enzyme formulations can be related to the immobilization procedure and to the carrier. Accordingly, a vast diversity of immobilized enzyme formulations and setups has been implemented in the food industry. This chapter provides an overview on recent developments and trends on the design and application of immobilized enzyme formulations for food production.