Fermented Food Products

A. Sankaranarayanan, N. Amaresan, D. Dhanasekaran, A. Sankaranarayanan, N. Amaresan, D. Dhanasekaran

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780367224226
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000761092
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Microbiología

Fermented food play an important proactive role in the human diet. In many developing and under developed countries, fermented food is a cheap source of nutrition. Currently, more than 3500 different fermented foods are consumed by humans throughout the world; many are indigenous and produced in small quantities, however, the consumption of many fermented foods has gradually increased. Fermented Food Products presents in-depth insights into various microbes involved in the production of fermented foods throughout the world. It also focuses on recent developments in the fermented food microbiology field along with biochemical changes that are happening during the fermentation process.
• Describes various fermented food products, especially indigenous products
• Presents health benefits of fermented food products
• Explains mechans involved in the production of fermented foods
• Discusses molecular tools and its applications and therapeutic uses of fermented foods
The book provides a comprehensive account about diversified ethnic fermented food products. Readers will get updated information regarding various types of fermented food products and will learn the effect these fermented food products have on human health.

Section 1

Overview

1

Diversity of Global Fermented Food Products: An Overview

A. Sankaranarayanan and N. Amaresan

C.G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Uka Tarsadia University, Gopal vidhya nagar, Surat, India.

1 Introduction

Fermentation is a process that transforms any substrate into food products with the aid of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and yeast; enhances the quality of food materials, that is, flavor, taste, and palatability (Azokpota 2015); extends shelf life, preservation, aroma, and nutrient profile (Giraffa 2004; Katz 2012); inhibits the growth of unwanted microbes; and removes antinutritional properties. The word fermentation is derived from the Latin word fermentare, which means ‘to leaven’. During the fermentation process, production of various organic acids, carbon dioxide, antimicrobial peptides, and bacteriocins suppresses the growth of spoilage microorganisms and the process acts as a natural preservative. The traditional practices are followed at a small-scale level in houses (curd, a fermented diary product) and at a large-scale level in industries (soy sauce, a grain-based product) in defined environmental conditions.

Fermented food is an integral part of the human diet throughout the world. The consumption of fermented food products either as a part of the diet or as a complete diet depends on the food habits of individuals. Production of fermented food may vary based on the cultures used, raw material availability, taste preferences of consumers/particular regions, and the technology used. According to a report, more than 5000 fermented food products are consumed by humans throughout the world (Ray et al. 2016). Although the production process may vary, all fermented food products are prepared such that they are acceptable by consumers. Moreover, in some fermented products, especially alcoholic beverages, the extended storage enhances their value than the freshly prepared one. Still some folklore practices of fermented food products are unable to reach the vicinity of scientific communities, and they are followed only by a particular hub of people at a particular time. Further, a recent research report insisted on the need of re-discovering and updating the positive aspects of fermented food products, especially the less concentrated plant-based fermented food products (Lavefve et al. 2019).

A variety of substrates are used in the production of fermented food products, including cereals, grains, leaves, milk, vegetables, fish, and meat, as substrates by solid-state fermentation (SSF) and submerged fermentation (SmF) processes mediated through bacteria, fungi, and yeast.

Fermented food products ensure that food is available to everyone. The reason behind this is most of the food materials available in nature are easily perishable in their raw condition, and there is a high possibility of their deterioration by spoilage microbes. Hence, enhanced quality, extended shelf life, and edibility of fermented food ensure that food is available throughout the year (Rolle and Satin 2002; Patra et al. 2016; Adewumi 2018) (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Different beneficial perceptions of fermented food products.

Another noteworthy point is that the availability of diversified substrates, including cereal grains, pulses, roots and tubers, fruits and vegetables, edible bamboo shoots, milk and dairy products, meat and sea foods, tea leaves, cocoa, sugar cane, and oil palm sap, is the reason for the availability of a variety of fermented products in the world (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1

Diversified substrates used for fermented food products

S. no.	Name of the substrate	Country used	Names of the fermented food
1.	Cereal grains	Africa Ghana Tanzania India, Sri Lanka, Nepal	Doklu Kenkey Togwa Dosa and idli
2.	Legume	Japan India Indonesia	Natto Kinema Tempe
3.	Roots and tubers	West Africa Brazil	Lafun Taruba
4.	Fruits and vegetables	Korea Nepal Mexico Taiwan	Kimchi Khalpi Pulque Suan-tsai
5.	Bamboo shoots	Taiwan India (Northeast)	Jiang-sun Soidon
6.	Milk and dairy products	China Russia Turkey India	Kurut Koumiss Aryan Shrikhand
7.	Meat and sea foods	Portugal Turkey Thailand Ethiopia India	Alheira Sucuk Nham Wakalim Jamma
8.	Tea leaves	Thailand China	Miang Pu-erh Kombucha
9.	Cocoa	Venezuela Indonesia West Africa	Chocolate
10.	Sugar cane	Philippines Brazil	Basi Cachaca
11.	Palm	Camaroon	Palm wine
12.	Banana	Tanzania Burundi	Mbege Isongo
13.	Honey	Ethiopia	Tej
14.	Carrot	India	Kanji

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the various fermented food products and their diversity, including household fermented food products, countries where they are used and their health benefits. It is interesting to note at this juncture that although several books, reviews (Hesseltine and Wang 1986; Reddy et al. 1986; Nout and Rombouts 1990; Sanni 1993) and reports/monographs are available on indigenous food products, still the role of microbes in the production of few of the indigenous fermented food products is not yet revealed (Beuchat 1983, 1987; Reddy et al. 1986). Hence, researchers/scientists involved in the research based on fermented food products should reveal the role of organisms involved in the formation of fermented food products and list out various health aspects that one may gain by consuming them. There are chances that the fermented food products have some indigenous features that are beneficial for human health, and it is a bounden duty of researchers/scientists to report about this to the world.

2 Food Fermentation—Definition and Types

Fermentation is a basic and traditional practice followed everywhere in the world from a household scale to industrial level. Fermented foods are gifts to humankind by nature, and the reactions are mediated by microbes.

Fermented food is defined as the metabolic conversion of raw substrate into food with improved quality, and the reaction is mediated by microorganisms. In another view, it is a metabolic process in which carbohydrates/associated compounds are oxidized with the release of energy in the absence of electron acceptors.

Fermented food is also defined as a process that utilizes the microbial metabolic activity for the stabilization and transformation of food materials (Terefe 2016) fit for consumption with enhanced values of the product.

It is a metabolic-oriented microbial process that enhances the shelf life of the product, its aroma, flavor, and texture, and inhibits the unwanted microbes and removes toxicity from the food and makes it ready for consumption. Katz (2012) stated that ‘the fermented food products are the transformation of food by microbial mediated enzymes.’

SSF and SmF processes are carried out in fermented food industries in the presence as well as in the absence of oxygen. SSF process includes mushroom, bread, cocoa, tempeh (Erkmen and Bozoglu 2016), taruba (Ramos et al. 2015), and gari (Chisti 2014), whereas submerged fermentation (SmF) process includes pickling vegetables, yogurt, beer, wine (Erkmen and Bozoglu 2016), busa (Blandino et al. 2003) fufu, lafun, and agbelima (Oyewole 2001; Coulin et al. 2006).

3 Global Diversity of Various Fermented Food Products

Fermentation is one of the traditional and ancient processes, in which the metabolic activities of microbial organisms (Terefe 2016; Wilburn and Ryan 2017) enhance the value of the food products (Nout 2014). By the end of the fermentation, antimicrobial metabolites, production of bacteriocins, and synthesis of organic acids inhibit the food-borne pathogens (Kim et al. 2016) and enhance the organoleptic characteristics of food, thereby increasing its health benefits and shelf life (Heperkan 2013; Hwang et al. 2017). Basically, fermented food is an integral part of everyday diets of humans around the world and plays an important role in various traditional practices (Ansorena and Astiasarán 2016; Narzary et al. 2016; Kanwar and Keshani 2016) (Table 1.2).

Table 1.2

List of various fermented food products of the world

* Consumed within 1–2 days; not consumed if it is yellow in color. Indonesian Government outlawed the production; however still in use by poor Lb.—Lactobacillus

Basically, a wide variety of fermented foods is available and used by all kinds of people invariably, especially those living in marginalized and vulnerable societal platforms (Montet et al. 2006). Some of the fermented food products play an important role in the traditional rituals of a particular community. Fermented milk products play an important role in the human diet throughout their life (Adolfsson et al. 2004). Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play a predominant role in the productio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• Section 1: Overview
• Section 2: Traditional Fermented Food Products
• Section 3: Plant-Based Fermented Food Products
• Section 4: Animal-Based Fermented Food Products
• Section 5: Milk-Based Fermented Food Products
• Section 6: Fermented Beverages
• Section 7: Molecular Tools in Fermented Food Products
• Section 8: Therapeutics and Fermented Foods
• Index