Fermentation: The Process Of Food Fermentation

1.0 FOOD FERMENTATION

Fermentation comes from the Latin word fermentare, which mean “to boil” (Shurtleff & Aoyagi, 2004). Fermented food is the process involves the action of microorganisms or enzymes which can cause desirable biochemical changes and significant modification to the food (Campbell,1994). Fermentation of food is one of the oldest known uses of biotechnology. Campbell (1994) states that the traditional biotechnology involved the used of starter culture, strain improvement and most recently was gene technology which evolved from a “natural” processes in which the nutrient availability and environmental conditions selected particular microorganisms (Campbell,1994). Fermented foods are found in diets throughout the world, with dairy,

Soni and Sandhu state that there are four main process of fermentation which is lactic acid fermentation, alcoholic fermentation, acetic acid fermentation and also alkaline fermentation (cited in Blandino et.al,2003). Lactic acid fermentation is mainly carried out by lactic acid bacteria. It involves the metabolic process by which glucose and other six-carbon were converted into cellular energy and metabolite lactate. Example of lactic acid fermentation is the fermentation of milk and cereals. Alcohol fermentation is a biological process in which the sugar are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide as the side effect by the action of various yeast, molds or bacteria on the carbohydrates material. Example of alcoholic fermentation is wine and beers fermentation. Next is acetic acid fermentation, which is a second group of bacteria that are important in food fermentation. Acetobacter species is one of the acetic acid producers in which the Acetobacter convert the alcohol into acetic acid in the presence of excess oxygen. Lastly is the alkaline fermentation which often takes place during the fermentation of fish and seeds, which popularly used as condiment (Blandino et.al,

In recent years, there are much interest has been showed in the use of Lactobacilli sp.as probiotics organisms and their potential for disease prevention in humans and animals. Lactobacillus is responsible for the production of enzyme lactase and also responsible for carbohydrate fermentation within the gut. Through this process, it also produces lactic acid which creates an acidic environment within gut to prevent unwanted microorganisms that thrive in an alkaline environment (Lifefoodpro.com, 2017).

Bifidobacteria were considered as important probiotics. It has been used in the food industry to treat and reveal many intestinal disorders. Bifidobacteria has beneficial health effect including regulation of intestinal microbial homeostasis, inhibition of pathogen and harmful bacteria that colonize which infect the gut mucosa, the modulation of local and systematic immune responses, repression of procarcinogenic enzymatic activities within the microbiota, the production of vitamins and