Synergistic Fermentation with Functional Microorganisms Improves Safety and Quality of Traditional Chinese Fermented Foods

Abstract

Traditional fermented foods are favored by people around the world for their positive health and taste advantages. Many of the fermented foods, including Chinese traditional fermented foods, are produced through mixed-culture fermentation. Apart from reducing the formation of harmful compounds such as ethyl carbamate (EC) and biogenic amines (BAs) during food fermentation, it is also difficult to precisely control and regulate the fermentation process based on the control of environmental conditions alone, due to the complex microbiota and an unclarified fermentation mechanism. In this review, key microorganisms involved in Chinese fermented foods such as baijiu, soy sauce, and vinegar production are elaborated, and relations between microbial composition and the aroma or quality of food are discussed. This review focuses on the interpretation of functions and roles of beneficial (functional) microorganisms that participate in food fermentation and the discussion of the possibilities of the synergistic use of functional microorganisms to improve the safety and quality of Chinese fermented foods. Conducting work toward the isolation of beneficial microorganisms is a challenge for modern food fermentation technology. Thus, methods for the isolation and mutagenesis of functional microbial strains for synergistic food fermentation are summarized. Finally, the limitations and future prospects of the use of functional microorganisms in traditional Chinese fermented foods are reviewed. This review provides an overview of the applications of synergistic fermentation with functional microorganisms in the improvement of the safety or sensory qualities of fermented foods.

Identifying Variables Influencing Traditional Food Solid-State Fermentation by Statistical Modeling

“…Solid-state fermentation is the cultivation of microbes on moist solid substrates like grains or agro-industrial byproducts and has been used for centuries to produce fermented foods and products, including Chinese liquor [1][2][3][4]. Despite the long tradition of production and the application of a few successfully industrialized processes, especially in the production of enzymes, most solid-state fermentations are still operated in a more traditional and empirical manner compared to submerged fermentation, with less process control [5,6] and consequent fluctuations in product yield and quality. Without knowing the crucial influential variables, control of such a complex process is still infeasible, in particular for a spontaneous process with multi-species involvement and an undefined substrate.…”