8 - Antioxidant compounds from fermentation and microbial sources

Abstract

Fermentation is one of the most ancestral preservation technologies of the food industry used to improve the nutritional, sensory, safety and shelf-life of foods. Fermented foods are an essential part of the diet, and over time, fermentation has been associated with health-promoting benefits. A renewed interest in fermented foods has recently been largely driven by their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This process has been applied to different raw materials, such as vegetables, fruits, cereals, and various animal sources, such as meat, milk and fish, promoting desirable sensory changes through the synergic action of microorganisms and a consortium of enzymes. Other changes in these food matrices promoted by microorganisms will be related to their preservation by the production of lactic acid or by metabolites with different abilities given to the food itself that will be enriched and improved. In this sense, increased amounts of bioactive ingredients with antioxidant properties can be linked to fermented food. The ability of fermented microorganisms to use a food source and modify it, giving rise to an enriched food with antioxidant compounds, is a point of view. At the same time, the other is the existence of microorganisms that could be producers of antioxidant compounds. As a whole, this chapter aims to provide an up-to-date review of the fermentation of different food matrices and the production of antioxidant compounds that will enrich the final fermented foods as well as to explore the idea of selecting microorganisms that are producers of antioxidant compounds.