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FOOD FERMENTATION
Dr. Ahmed Bilal
FERMENTATION

• Anaerobic or partially anaerobic oxidation of carbohydrates is called

fermentation

• Enzymes produced by microorganisms breakdown carbohydrates or

carbohydrate-like materials into substances that are less subjected to
undesirable microbial activity than the original material
FERMENTED FOODS
• Important part of the diet all over the world

• Presently, fermentation industries (e.g. baking, brewing, wine making, vinegar

manufacture) that employ pure cultures grew out of the home-scale traditional
fermentation processes that relied primarily on the activities of mixed microflora

• Modern fermentation plants still utilize mixed microbial culture to produce

fermented foods (e.g. yoghurt, cheese,sauerkraut, pickles)
CONT…

• More than 3500 fermented foods consumed in the world

• Numerous beverages are produced by fermentation e.g. alcoholic (beer,

wine, brandy, whisky, vodka, sake, and palm wine) and non-alcoholic
beverages (tea, coffee, and cocoa)

• Cereals are fermented to produce leavened bread, pancakes, muffins, etc.

CONT…

• Legumes are fermented in Far East for the production of tempeh, soy
sauce, miso, oncom

• Among dairy products, cheese and yoghurt are popular

• Sausages and salami are produced from meat

• Fish is fermented in North Africa, Middle East, Europe and South East Asia
Fermented foods
 OBJECTIVES OF FERMENTATION
• Prolong the keeping quality of the food raw materials especially in areas where
other methods of preservation are technically and economically difficult to
implement

• To enhance the flavor of some foods

• To improve the physical characteristics

• To produce new products having longer shelf life

TYPES OF FERMENTATION

1. Alcoholic fermentation
2. Acetic acid fermentation
3. Lactic acid fermentation
ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION

• Applied in the production of leavened bread and alcoholic beverages

• Sugars are converted into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide

Yeast

C6H12O6 = = = = = > 2C2H5OH + 2CO2

 CONT…

• Most common species of the genus Saccharomyces such as S. cerevisiae and

S. carlsbergenis are employed

• C2H5OH and to some extent CO2 act as natural preservative agents in

such fermented foods
TYPES OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

1. B e e r
2. W i n e s
3. C h a m p a g n e
1. BEER
• Produced from barley

• Barley germinate under controlled conditions and produce malt that

contains active enzymes from the germination process and help in the
breakdown of starch

• Malt is cleaned, weighed and adjuncts added

• Passed through filtration process; the filtrate (called wort) contains

fermentable sugars and necessary nutrients for yeasts, i.e. boiled with
hops to inactivate enzymes, extract soluble substances from hops and
precipitate coagulated proteins
CONT…
• Wort is allowed to ferment in special vessels with the aid of selected
strains of brewery yeasts (S. cerevisiae & S. carlsbergenis)

• Fermented wort is filtered to remove yeast cells and other coarse

particles then it is allowed to mature in storage vessels

• Filled in bottles and pasteurized

• Final product contains between 3-5% ethyl alcohol

2. W I N E S
• Manufactured from any sugary raw material; fruits are commonly used
• Grapes are regarded as the real wines
• Other fruit based wines are simply referred as fruit wines

• Fruits of proper maturity are crushed and treated with SO2 or sulfites or
pasteurized to reduce microbial contamination

• Followed by inoculation with a suitable yeast starter and allowed to ferment

• After fermentation, wine is drawn off, placed in storage tanks for further
fermentation, racked, stored for ageing, clarified and packed
3. CHAMPAGNE

• Champagne is manufactured from specially selected white table wines

produced from grapes

• Involves a secondary fermentation that yields more ethyl alcohol, carbon

dioxide and flavor in the product
 BREAD MANUFACTURE
• Essential ingredients; wheat flour, yeast, water and salt mixed together and made
into dough of desired quality by stretching, folding and cutting

• Allowed to ferment; yeast utilizes sugars and produces carbon dioxide and minor
amount of ethyl alcohol

• Carbon dioxide is trapped in the gluten framework of the dough to give an

increased volume

• Fermentation process in bread manufacturing is not aimed at increasing the shelf

life, but to impart certain textural characteristics to the product such as increased
volume and open crumb
 ACETIC ACID FERMENTATION
• Acetic acid bacteria (species of the genera Acetobacter and Acetomonas) are
capable of oxidizing ethyl alcohol into acetic acid and water
Acetic acid bacteria
C2H5OH = = = = = = = = > CH3 COOH + H2O

• Acetic acid is the main component of vinegar, which has been used for
centuries as medicine, flavoring agent and preservative for products like
tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and salad dressings

• Many pickles are also partially preserved by using vinegar

VINEGAR PRODUCTION
• Product of acetic acid fermentation

• In commercial production suitable cheep raw material such as

grapes, apples, malt, sugar of molasses is fermented by yeast to
produce ethyl alcohol

• Yeast fermented substrate is allowed to undergo acetous

fermentation by the slow or quick process
 CONT…
• Improved Slow Process is Orleans Process in which fermented liquid is filled in special
barrels

• Inoculated with fresh vinegar

• After about three months at 21-29 ºC, about 1/3 is withdrawn and fresh quantity of
the fermented liquid added

• Freshly acetified vinegar is stored and aged for about 6 months to improve its flavor
and other characteristics

• Every month about 1/3rd to 1/4th of the finished vinegar is withdrawn and the cycle
is repeated
 CONT…
• Quick or Generator Process consists of an upright cylinder of varying
dimensions

• Equipped with a spreader device to distribute alcoholic solution, a large main

section filled with maize cobs, purified coke of charcoal or beach-wood
shavings to provide surface to the acetic acid bacteria and a lower section
with air holes
 CONT…

• Fermented liquid is sprinkled from the top and air is pumped from the
bottom

• Acetic acid bacteria present on the corncobs etc. convert ethyl alcohol
into acetic acid

• When the conversion is completed, the vinegar is drawn, aged, clarified

and filled into bottles
Quick or Generator Process
 LACTIC ACID FERMENTATION
• Most widely used biological preservation technique

• Lactic acid bacterial act on glucose and convert it into lactic acid and water

Lactic acid bacteria

C6H12O6 = = = = = = = = > CH3CHCOOH + H2O

• Great importance in the dairy industry, meat industry, and fruits and vegetable
industry
DAIRY INDUSTRY

• Species of genera Streptococcus, Lactobacillus and others are most often used to
convert the milk sugars to lactic acid

• Production of yoghurt, standardized and pasteurized milk is inoculated with a

culture containing Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus

• Lactic acid produced coagulate the milk proteins

• Coagulated milk may be consumed as such (yoghurt) or further processed to

produce cheese
MEAT INDUSTRY

• Production of numerous meat products (sausages) is directed towards

obtaining a low pH (4.0-5.5) and the production of unique flavor
characteristics of the product

• Strains of Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus are employed for this

purpose
FRUIT & VEGETABLE INDUSTRY
• Most important use of lactic fermentation in the food industry world wide is in
the fermentation of fruit and vegetable materials to produce pickles or other
products

• Fermentation is carried out by species of Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus

and other suitable lactic acid bacteria

• Activities of other microorganisms in these products in prohibited by the

addition of common salt (2.5% or higher)
 CHANGES IN FOODS AS A RESULT OF
FERMENTATION
• During controlled fermentation, growth and activities of microorganisms
lead to the breakdown of complex components of food molecules into
simpler ones

• Substances get metabolized into end products and released in the

environment

• Three major components in foods; Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats are

metabolized
CONT…

• When carbohydrates or carbohydrate-like compounds are attacked by

microorganisms, end products released in the environment are alcohols,
organic acids, aldehydes and ketones

• Human body can utilize some of them as immediate source of energy

CONT…

• Breakdown of protein material is referred to as Proteolysis

• Lipolysis is the term that describes the breakdown of fatty materials

• Proteolysis and Lipolysis reactions usually produce off-odors in the

product depending upon the degree of changes