Food Fermentations - State of the Art

In 2020, the World Economic Forum highlighted that fermentation presents an opportunity to fundamentally change the way the world eats and improve global human and environmental health and the economy. However, much research is still needed to understand the impact of fermentation technology on human and environmental health and to design fermentation processes optimally. Fermentation in the food industry can refer to food fermentation, biomass fermentation or precision fermentation. In the context of the European projects HealthFerm, Domino, WHEATBIOME and MASTER, and the Cost Action Pimento, a general introduction to the topic of food fermentations is given in this presentation.

Fermented foods were defined in 2021 by ISAPP as “foods made through desired microbial growth and enzymatic conversions of food components” (Marco et al., 2021). Fermented foods have been a part of the human diet for millennia. A broad range of fermented foods exists, being produced from diverse food substrates, such as vegetables, grains, soybeans, milk, fish and meat. Fermented foods often contain live microorganisms, like yoghurt, cheese and kombucha. However, in several fermented foods, the microorganisms are no longer alive; for example, in bread, pasteurised fermented vegetables and soy sauce.

In this presentation, the microorganisms involved in food fermentations and the physicochemical transformations of raw materials, with a focus on plant-based raw materials, will be summarised. Furthermore, the different possible technofunctional and sensorial benefits of food fermentations will be discussed. Finally, an overview of the current knowledge on the effect of fermentation on health benefits and microbiome-enhancing effects will be given.