New Products Introduction Thermostable Microbial β-Amylase: The First Successful Industrial-scale Production in the World

β-Amylase is used in the production of maltose syrup and preventing retrogradation of rice cake confectionery. However, until now the supply source for β-amylase has been limited to edible plants such as barley, wheat and soybean. Considering the current worldwide food crisis, it is the responsibility of enzyme producers to explore alternative sources for a stable and constant enzyme supply going forward. It was not long ago that the trend toward bioethanol as a petroleum fuel alternative caused a steep rise in grain prices and made it more difficult to obtain food grain. Microbial β-amylase was first described in the 1970s and despite many subsequent studies performed, proved difficult to produce at a large scale. For this reason, Amano Enzyme Inc. initiated a new screening procedure to find a more thermostable β-amylase compared to the enzyme from barley or wheat, and recently succeeded in its commercialization efforts through a joint development project with Daiwa Kasei K.K., one of the Amano Enzyme Group companies.