Disclosed are nucleotide sequences encoding thioesterase enzymes, methods for their production, their use in methods to form thioesters, and their use in methods of screening for other wild type bacteria capable of producing said thioesterase enzymes. Also disclosed are compositions comprising thioesters produced by the methods disclosed herein.

The present invention is directed to a method for decreasing the lag time in a fermentation of a culture medium to prepare a target substance, wherein the target substance is not yogurt and wherein the fermentation results in formation of acid or ethanol, which method comprises the steps of providing, to a suitable culture medium, a fermentation starter culture comprising a microorganism which liberates acid or ethanol, adding a potato protein protease inhibitor to the culture medium, culturing the microorganism, and obtaining the target substance.

It has been found that addition of potato protein protease inhibitor to a fermentation feed significantly reduces the lag time of the fermentation. The required amount of potato protein is low enough not to affect the taste of the target substance adversely, and the lag time reduction occurs both in batch- and in semi-continuous processes. The invention further pertains to a fermented food product which is not yogurt, comprising potato protein protease inhibitor.

The present invention relates to an acidified protein product. Particularly, the invention relates to acidified protein product which can be used as a cheese or a meat substitute that can be fried or grilled. The present invention relates also the processes for producing such acidified protein products.

A method for making a milk product (e.g. a yogurt) comprising adding an effective amount of an N-linked glycosidase and/or an O-linked glycosidase to milk.

The present invention relates to a Yarrowia strain, preferably a non-genetically modified Yarrowia strain, for the production of a wild-type, non-engineered, microbial lipolytic enzyme with a high specificity for short-chain fatty acids, preferably with a higher specificity for short chain fatty acids than for medium to long chain fatty acids, preferably when compared to a known microbial lipolytic enzyme. This invention is suitable for use in the food industry, preferably in the dairy industry, more preferably in the cheese industry leading, for example, to flavor enhancement or shortening of the ripening times for ripened cheeses.

The present invention relates to a process for producing cheese, comprising the steps of: providing a first raw material liquid; providing a second raw material liquid; treating the first raw material liquid with a protein crosslinking enzyme to provide an enzyme-treated raw material liquid; mixing the enzyme-treated raw material liquid with the second raw material liquid to provide cheese milk; processing the cheese milk into cheese. The process produces cheese in improved yields while retaining the organoleptic properties of cheese unchanged. The invention further relates to cheese treated with a protein crosslinking enzyme, having the moisture on a fat-free basis of 67% or less and a protein profile of cheese has proteins of molecular weight of less than 66 kDa.

Disclosed are nucleotide sequences encoding thioesterase enzymes, methods for their production, their use in methods to form thioesters, and their use in methods of screening for other wild type bacteria capable of producing said thioesterase enzymes. Also disclosed are compositions comprising thioesters produced by the methods disclosed herein.

A process for the preparation of a fermented milk product comprising the steps of: providing a milk base comprising glucose and fructose; and fermenting the milk base in the presence of a lactic acid bacterial strain and a glucose-fructose oxidoreductase enzyme.

The present invention describes a intracellular produced lactase, which comprises less than 40 units arylsulfatase activity per NLU of lactase activity. The invention also provides a process comprising treating a substrate with an enzyme preparation, wherein the enzyme preparation is substantially free from arylsulfatase.

The present invention relates to a process for producing an acidified protein product, such as quark.