Chapter 5 - Application of Microbial Biotechnology in Food Processing

Abstract

Microbial biotechnology is the fermentation process involving microorganism or its derivatives whereby natural substrates are converted to value-added products such as processed food product, enzymes, organic acids, alcohols, polymers, and more. Microorganisms especially bacteria, fungi, and yeast are used in many industrial and traditional food processing sectors across the globe, such as the production of traditional fermented foods, dairy products, enzymes, vitamins, polysaccharides, polyhydric alcohols, pigments, lipids, and glycolipids besides detoxification and improvement of the functionality of several food items. Some of these products are produced commercially, while others are potentially valuable in biotechnology. Microbial secondary metabolites are extremely important to our health and nutrition and have tremendous economic impact. Today, enhanced production of economically important fermentation products has benefited from targeted genetic engineering techniques to established industrial microbial strains. This chapter provides practical examples and gives a broad overview of the current status of microbial biotechnology in food processing application encompassing several agricultural produce in developing countries and industry.