Introduc/on

•  Flavor  play  an  important  role  in  food  industries  

•  Flavor  can  be  described  as  the  combined  percep6on  of  taste,  smell  
and  mouth  feel  (Hatchwell,  1994)  
•  Increased  consumer  response  towards  “natural”  ingredients  
•  Hence  aCen6on  towards  flavor  compounds  of  biological  origin,  so  
called  natural  or  bioflavors  
Bioflavors  
•  “Code  of  Federal  regula6ons”  a  natural  flavor  is  “the  
essen6al  oil,  oleorisin,  essence  or  extrac6ve,  dis6llate  of  
any  product  of  roas6ng,  hea6ng  or  enzymolysis,  which  
contains  the  flavoring  of  cons6tuents  derived  from  a  
spice,  fruit  juice,  vegetable,  edible  yeast,  dairy  products  
and  meat  products  thereof,  whose  significant  func6on  
in  food  is  rather  flavoring  than  nutri6on.”  
  
Bioflavor……  Why?  
•  “Chemophobia”-­‐a>tude  
•  Clean  label  products,  containing  no  ar/ficial  
addi/ves  
•  Search  for  natural  flavor  compounds  with  addi/onal  
func/onali/es  (e.g.  an/microbial  proper/es)  
•  Because  chemical  synthesis  results:  
 -­‐  environmentally  unfriendly  produc/on  processes  
 -­‐  undesirable  racemic  mixture  compounds  
Processes  for  Flavor  
Produc/on  
•  Three  dis6nct  processes:  
 -­‐  chemically    
 -­‐  by  means  of  microorganisms  
 -­‐  plant  cell  cultures  or  isolated  enzymes  
•  Microbiological  processes-­‐considered  beCer  
op6on  
 -­‐  less  damaging  to  the  environment  than  
 chemical  
 -­‐  a  good  alterna6ve  for  plant  extracts  
 (economy)  
 Microbiological  Processes  

•  (a)  Biosynthesis  (de  novo  synthesis)  -­‐  synthesis  of  a  specific  compound  by  
metabolizing  cells  
•  Very  poor  produc6on  levels  (i.e.  lesser  yields)  
•  A  limit  for  industrial  exploita6on  
•  Is  economical  
•  (b)  Biotransforma6on  or  bioconversion  –  which  involves  modifica6on  of  
chemical  substrate  by  microbial  cells  
•  Cost  effec6ve  
•  Widespread  applica6ons