Application of Pectinase in Food Industry

Pectinase is a general term for a group of enzymes that can catalyze the degradation of pectin substances. Pectin substances are usually present in higher plants, such as vegetables, fruits, corn, soybeans, etc., and are one of the components of non-starch polysaccharides. Pectinase degrading pectin substances plays an important role in industrial production. Through treatment, pectinase can effectively degrade polygalacturonic acid and rhamnoic acid in pectin, and convert into sugar and other useful compounds so as to solve the problem of spoilage. As one of the four major enzyme preparations in the world, pectinase is widely used in food industries such as fruit juice clarification, juice extraction, winemaking, and oil extraction.

Pectinase is widely distributed in higher plants and microorganisms. According to the different ways of acting on galacturonic acid, pectinase can be divided into original pectinase, pectin esterase and pectate lyase. Pectinase can be divided into acid pectinase and alkaline pectinase according to its optimal pH value. At present, the most researched and applied is acid pectinase, which is mainly used for fruit juice clarification. The most suitable pH value of the enzyme is in the acidic range. The research of alkaline pectinase can expand the application range of pectinase.

With the continuous development of industry, pectinase is more and more valued by the market, especially in the food industry. It is widely used, such as for juice clarification, juice extraction, wine making, etc., which brings great convenience to production and life.

Juice clarification: The essence of pectinase clarified juice contains two parts: enzymatic hydrolysis of pectin and non-enzymatic electrostatic flocculation. When the pectin in the fruit and vegetable juice is partially hydrolyzed by pectinase, the positively charged protein particles wrapped inside are exposed, collide with other negatively charged particles, and then aggregate, which causes flocculation happened. During the sedimentation of flocs, pectinase adsorbs and entangles other suspended particles in the juice, which can be removed by centrifugation and filtration to achieve the purpose of clarification.

Improve the juice yield of fruit and vegetable juices: Generally, the cell walls of fruits and vegetables contain a lot of pectin, cellulose, starch, protein and other substances. The crushed pulp is very viscous, which makes it very difficult to squeeze and extract the juice, and the juice yield is very low, and the enzymatic hydrolysis technology can overcome the above shortcomings. Pectinase is usually used to accelerate fruit juice and flavor extraction while removing pectin. Pectinase can not only catalyze the depolymerization of pectin, effectively reduce the viscosity, improve the squeezing performance, increase the juice yield and soluble solids content, but also increase the aromatic components in the juice and reduce the production of pomace, while also conducive to subsequent processing procedures.

Improve the quality of wine: The use of pectinase in the wine industry can increase the extraction of natural pigments, improve the color and flavor of wine, increase the aroma of wine, and produce sparkling wine. The results of the study show that the addition of pectinase has little effect on the sugar and acid content of grape juice, but it can reduce the viscosity of the juice and facilitate the dissolution of the pigment; the sample added with pectinase fermented vigorously and rapidly than the sample without pectinase. It can reduce the amount of volatile acid generated, increase the content of dry wine extract and total phenol content, and improve the quality of wine.

Oil extraction: During the extraction of vegetable oil, cell wall degrading enzymes, including alkaline pectinase, play an important role. For example, adding alkaline pectinase during olive oil extraction can destroy emulsified pectin Increase the oil yield, and the squeezed oil is very stable when stored, and the content of polyphenols and vitamin E has also increased.

With the development and progress of society, the pursuit of products is becoming more and more unique, so the market's demand for specific pectinase is particularly urgent. Committed to research on the application of pectinase, considering its synergistic effect with other enzymes, expanding its application field, and adopting various methods to improve the enzyme activity of pectinase will be the focus of future research and application of pectinase, but also its future development trend.