8-2 |
Bioprocess engineering and the food industry |
M. MOO-YOUNG, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Univ. of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. W., Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada In the food industry, bioprocess engineering already plays an important role: it is involved in such operations as sterilization, blending and fermentation, to name a few. With the rapid advances in biotechnology, bioprocess engineering offers more opportunities and challenges which could have an enormous impact on the socio-economics of the industry…A brief overview of the relevant tools of bioprocess engineering will be given as they relate to food production and the environmental management of the byproduct wastes. This is followed by an evaluation of the constraints imposed by biological phenomena on bioprocessing systems. In particular, potential new frontiers in fermentation developments for novel food products and food processing strategies will be examined with respect to: genetic instabilities of culture host cell-factories; inherent metabolic product degradation by protease enzymes; biomaterials damage by hydrodynamic shear forces; the difficulty of mixing viscous non-Newtonian biofluids. To illustrate these issues, the results of a case study from my own research which led to a patented invention will be discussed. This invention deals with the bioconversion of agri-food cellulosic residues into edible, nutritious microbial-biomass proteinaceous food products. As with any new food products and processes, this technology has had its share of challenges for its introduction into the marketplace.
Session 8, Challenges and outlook of bioprocess engineering in food
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