Food fermentations: role of microorganisms in food production and preservation

Preservation of foods by fermentation is a widely practiced and ancient tec hnology. Fermentation ensures not only increased shelf life and microbiolog ical safety of a food but also may also make some foods more digestible and in the case of cassava fermentation reduces toxicity of the substrate. Lac tic acid bacteria because of their unique metabolic characteristics are inv olved in many fermentation processes of milk, meats, cereals and vegetables . Although many fermentations are traditionally dependent on inoculation fr om a previous batch starter cultures are available for many commercial proc esses such as cheese manufacture thus ensuring consistency of process and p roduct quality. This review outlines the role of lactic acid bacteria in ma ny such fermentations and the mechanisms of antibiosis with particular refe rence to bacteriocins and gives a brief description of some important ferme nted foods from various countries. It is anticipated that the contribution of the advances in lactic acid bacteria research towards improvement of str ains for use in food fermentation will benefit both the consumer and the pr oducer. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.