Honey diastase: a natural halal enzyme and its potential application in food

Abstract

Honey is one of the sunnah foods that has been widely consumed due to its nutritional and therapeutic benefits. However, the halalan-toyyiban status of this “Super Food” has constantly been challenged owing to the effect of processing or intentional adulterating activities. To retain the wholesomeness of honey, the quality parameters need to be assessed and monitored. Both Codex Standard for honey and Malaysian Standard for kelulut bee honey are good and reliable references that we can refer to in order to ensure the honey meets the requirements of authentic honey. Apart from the quality assurance issues that surface, the use of honey diastase in food innovation has also been explored and discussed. The development of this diastase-innovation (i.e. honeydol and keludol) has opened up ideas and opportunities for the underexplored role of honey as a functional ingredient in food applications rather than its conventional role as a sweetener. Nevertheless, the role of honey diastase needs to be further explored and investigated compared to commercial diastase.