Potential application of commercial enzyme preparations for industrial production of short-chain fructooligosaccharides

Twenty-five commercial enzyme preparations for use in the food industry were assayed for transfructosylation activity. Three preparations showed high transfructosylation activity from sucrose as well as the ratio of transferase and hydrolase activities. Short-chain fructooligosaccharides (sc-FOS) were not hydrolyzed by the three enzyme preparations after a 12 h reaction time. At a 6 h reaction time, yield and volumetric productivity were in the range from 58.8 to 62.6% (g sc-FOS/100 g initial sucrose) and 52.5 to 55.9 g sc-FOS/L h, respectively. One enzyme preparation was then evaluated for sc-FOS synthesis. Thus, environmental factors influencing the reaction were studied on products. Total sc-FOS concentration was not affected by temperature, pH and enzyme concentration at the studied levels, but high concentrations of sucrose affected the sc-FOS formation. The results suggest that these enzyme preparations can be exploited as a source of food-grade fructosyltransferase, in addition to Pectinex Ultra SP-L.

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► Twenty-five enzyme preparations were assayed for transfructosylation activity.
► Twenty-four of them have not been tested for this purpose.
► Three preparations exhibited a high ratio of transferase and hydrolase activities.
► Kestose was the predominant oligosaccharide under the reaction conditions tested.
► The process described here is inexpensive, simple and efficient.