Fermentation Biotechnology of African Traditional Foods

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The continent of Africa is endowed with a rich cultural heritage, where traditional fermented food products play a dominant role in the diet and socio-economic life of its people. Fermentation is a simple and inexpensive approach to the improvement of safety, nutritional, organoleptic value and shelf life of food substrates. In Africa, most traditional food fermentations remain household arts, which are transferred from one generation to the other preserving the culture and tradition of the food products. Food fermentations can be acidic, alkaline or alcoholic where microorganisms perform a number of roles that assist the overall improvement of food quality and safety. Scientific advances have elucidated the selection and use of appropriate multifunctional microbial strains, which have contributed to the biotechnological applications and improvement of the safety and functionality of traditional fermented foods of Africa. In this chapter, we discuss the tradition, safety, quality and challenges associated with the biotechnology of the African traditional fermented foods, and how to surmount these problems to meet contemporary consumer acceptability and market demands.