Polysaccharides and Polysaccharidases in Food and Agriculture

Polysaccharides and Polysaccharidases play a vital role in the food chain notably in human foods and animal feed. Polysaccharides are widely used in food industries as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers and low calorie substitutes. In contrast, polysaacharidases are key processing aids which help to improve the yield, quality and texture of food and feed as well as to produce high value functional food ingredients. This book consists of eight chapters covering a wide range of topics on polysaccharides and polysaccharidases highlighting the state-of-the-art. The book is timely and will be of great interest to researchers, teachers, students and industrialists. Indeed, it is highly likely that there will be a significant increase in the use of polysaccharides and polysaccharidases in food, feed and other industries with new findings and technology developments. Now the challenge is to enhance the knowledge on polysaccharides and polysaccharidases and to develop new technologies which are economically viable, commercially attractive and beneficial to man-kind.