Trends in Development and Research of Natural Food Additives

천연 식품 첨가물 개발 및 연구동향

Food additives are minor components which are used to enhance nutritive or sensory values, and to improve shelf life of foods. In foods, natural additives are preferred over artificial or synthetic materials because of concern on food safety. Many biotechnological techniques have been applied to the production of food additives since the biotechnology has been utilized to prodyce many flavor components such as glutamate, 5'-nucleotides, esters, 2,3-bytadione, pyrazines, terpenes, and lactones. Natural flavors, fragrances, sweetners, and colorants can be produced by plant cell culture. Many lactic acid bacteria produce bacteriocins such as nisin or diplococcin. These bacteriocins are used as safe preservatives in foods and many researches on the improvenment of bacteriocin productivity by genetic engineering are in progress.