Biotechnology and Food Production

Biotechnology in the food processing sector targets the selection and improvement of microorganisms with the objectives of improving process control, yields and efficiency as well as the quality, safety and consistency of bioprocessed products. Biotechnology is a broad term associated with many complex processes involving organisms and technology. They are basically related to food and agriculture. Biotechnology finds use in improvement of nutrition value of various kinds of foods to enhance the quality of human life. The application of recombinant DNA techniques to biological organisms, systems, and processes constitutes an exciting new biology that is being used to increase agricultural productivity and to improve the health of humans and animals. These advances coupled with those resulting from more traditional genetic and chemical approaches are having and will continue to have an enormous impact on the production of food throughout the world. Biotechnology is the use of livelihood systems and organisms to expand or make useful products, or any technical applications that uses organic systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or transform products or processes for specific use. Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the fields of bioengineering and biomedical engineering. A number of the applications were identified in this paper to include biotechnology in food fermentation to enhance properties such as the taste, aroma, shelf-life, texture and nutritional worth of food. Biotechnology in the production of enzymes to bring regarding desirable changes in food, biotechnology in the production of food ingredients; flavours, fragrances, food additives and a range of other towering valued-added products, genetically modified starter cultures, genetically modified foods, the use of all these modern technologies in diagnostics for food testing, the role of biotechnology in food production by increasing food production, improved harvesting, storage and nutritional value, better raw materials, better flavour and the production of food containing vaccines, the safety of food produced with biotechnology as well as the risks and benefits of biotechnology in food production. This book focuses on the application of biotechnology to the processing of food. It discusses biotechnological tools and options that are applicable to the study and improvement of the quality, safety and consistency of foods. The contents of the book will be immensely helpful to students and researchers of biotechnology and food science.