Shea butter is a high-value shea nut fat used as an edible oil, antimicrobial and moisturiser in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, respectively. The annual worldwide export of shea nut from Africa is 350,000 MT of kernels with a market value of approximately $120 million to producing countries. The multifunctional properties of the shea butter depend strictly on its compositional properties: the peroxide value, moisture content, free fatty acid level and the insoluble impurities. Standard extraction technologies: the traditional, mechanized, enzymatic and chemical methods were used for shea butter extraction. Current extraction technologies which rely on different extraction parameters for shea butter extraction are yet to yield the desired qualities and efficiencies of butter. Application of hydrolysing enzymes during enzyme extraction however eliminates the laborious, tedious and labour-intensive extraction processes creating alternative, selective and mild extraction conditions. The current review gives an overview of shea butter extraction technologies, the efficiencies, qualities and a perspective into the shea butter industry.

Three different pre-treated shea nut substrates: raw kernels, roasted kernels and shea nut paste from roasted kernels were subjected to treatment with three different industrial enzymes: lipase, pectinase and cellulase, separately and in combination for shea butter extraction. Enzyme mixtures was optimized at pH of 6; 3% enzyme-substrate concentration, 2 h hydrolysis time at a temperature of 60ºC. The results showed that shea nut paste yielded 48% fat with pectinases (P), 52% with lipases (L) and 46% with cellulases (C) and this made it the best substrate for shea butter recovery. The amount of fat percentage wise with the same substrate increased to 52, 54 and 56 at 1:1 P+C, L+C and P+L enzyme combinations respectively. The highest extraction efficiency of 70% was recovered from 1:1:1 combination of all three industrial enzymes. Therefore, enzyme assisted aqueous hydrolysis of shea nut biomass for shea butter production is a promising technology with a great potential (extraction efficiency and safety) to substitute traditional extraction methods.

The use of enzyme consortium to aid the extraction of shea butter in the traditional village extraction process improves the quality of the shea butter. In this study, shea butter was extracted from three different shea kennel substrates; raw shea kennels (RASK), roasted shea kennels (ROSK) and shea kennel paste (SKEP) from a single variety of shea nuts (Vitellaria paradoxa) using the standard traditional extraction process and aided by 1:1:1 combination of enzymes: lipase, pectinase and cellulase.The characteristics of the resulting shea butter were investigated, and compared to existing recommended standards and export guidelines, using standard methods. The shea butter from raw shea kennels exhibited great qualities with moisture content of 0.18%; the free fatty acid levels of 1.60%; the peroxide valueof3.67 meq/g and the insoluble impurities level of 0.02 %. This generally places enzyme-assisted traditionally extracted shea butter as either Grade 1 or Grade 2. Enzymeassisted extraction makes the shea butter an export commodity. In summary, shea butter from enzyme aided extraction has improved qualities, is exportable and useful across all the various industries.