世界初の酵素による食品改質技術

―トランスグルタミナーゼによる食品イノベーション―

抄録

Food modifying technologies with enzymes were rarely put to commercial use in the late 1970's, because they could not obtain significant enough effects to justify the cost of enzymes. It was only with the practical use of a new enzyme, transglutaminase - discovered from a microorganism - that the above-mentioned situation began to change. The improvements achieved by use of transglutaminase were so remarkable that food modifying technology using transglutaminase has since been applied in a wide variety of food products, such as meat products, sea food products, dairy products and so on. There is no doubt that food modifying technology using transglutaminase represents an innovation in the food industry.

This article reviews the process of the innovation brought by transglutaminase from the viewpoints of business model, overseas development and intellectual property strategies.