Recent advances in microbial fermentation for dairy and health

Abstract

Microbial fermentation has been used historically for the preservation of foods, the health benefits of which have since come to light. Early dairy fermentations depended on the spontaneous activity of the indigenous microbiota of the milk. Modern fermentations rely on defined starter cultures with desirable characteristics to ensure consistency and commercial viability. The selection of defined starters depends on specific phenotypes that benefit the product by guaranteeing shelf life and ensuring safety, texture, and flavour. Lactic acid bacteria can produce a number of bioactive metabolites during fermentation, such as bacteriocins, biogenic amines, exopolysaccharides, and proteolytically released peptides, among others. Prebiotics are added to food fermentations to improve the performance of probiotics. It has also been found that prebiotics fermented in the gut can have benefits that go beyond helping probiotic growth. Studies are now looking at how the fermentation of prebiotics such as fructo-oligosaccharides can help in the prevention of diseases such as osteoporosis, obesity, and colorectal cancer. The potential to prevent or even treat disease through the fermentation of food is a medically and commercially attractive goal and is showing increasing promise. However, the stringent regulation of probiotics is beginning to detrimentally affect the field and limit their application.

Resistance of Listeria monocytogenes to Stress Conditions Encountered in Food and Food Processing Environments

“…Acidification is a method of food preservation widely applied to dairy, meat and vegetable products for centuries and is primarily achieved by fermentation by bacteria either present in the raw food or added as starter cultures ( Hill et al, 2017 ). The preserving effect is achieved, on the one hand, by the metabolic end products, which are weak organic acids (e.g., acetate, lactate) that have anti-microbial activity, and, on the other hand, by inhibition of microbial growth at low pH ( Caplice and Fitzgerald, 1999 ).…”

Ready to Use Therapeutical Beverages: Focus on Functional Beverages Containing Probiotics, Prebiotics and Synbiotics

“…Among these, the dose-dependent effect of probiotics is a complex problem that needs to be resolved because short-term consumption of beverages has had a limited impact on the pathological process, and they have complex compounds, different levels of active ingredients, and poor standardization. Another problem is to consider appropriate controls for comparative analysis [152]. Accordingly, the effects of probiotics on health must be proven through the necessary protocols for a systematic method to probiotic evaluation.…”

Bio-preservation of Foods: A Review

“…Fatty acids except DHA, EPA and stearic acid decreased [64]. Microbial fermentation leads to some extremely complex interactions between bacterial species and the food matrix they are fermenting, this represents an area with potential well beyond the extension of shelf life [65].…”