Abstract
Current social and environmental trends explain the rising popularity of artisanal fermented foods and beverages. In contrast with their marketing success, several studies underline a lack of regulations necessary to claim differences occurred from the farm to the fork and to certify high quality and safety standards. Microbial-based fermentative processes represent the crucial phase in the production of fermented foods and beverages. Nevertheless, what are the effects of the application of the “artisanal” category to the management of food fermentations? This opinion paper is built up on this issue by analyzing microbial aspects, instances of innovation, safety issues, and possible solutions. Evidence indicates: (i) a global curiosity to exploit food fermentations as drivers of innovation in artisanal contexts and (ii) an increasing interest of the artisanal producers into management of fermentation that relies on native microbial consortia. Unfortunately, this kind of revamp of “artisanal food microbiology,” rather than re-establishing artisanal content, can restore the scarce hygienic conditions that characterized underdeveloped food systems. We highlight that in the scientific literature, it is possible to underline existing approaches that, surpassing the dichotomy between relying on spontaneous fermentation and the use of commercial starter cultures, depict a “third way” to conjugate interest in enhancing the artisanal attributes with the need for correct management of microbial-related risks in the final products.
Highlights
Fermentation of edible matrices has been a precious form of food preservation and functional/nutritional enhancement for millennia [1]
With the development of tailored microbiological techniques and the rise of industrial food production, to ensure the standardization of consistency, safety, and quality of the final fermented products the scientific community developed the technology of starter cultures: “a microbial preparation of large numbers of cells of at least one microorganism to be added to a raw material to produce a fermented food by accelerating and steering its fermentation process” [7]
If we focus on the inoculum enrichment managements, one other way to examine the question of microbial-related risks associated with spontaneous fermentations is to consider the positive list of microbial species admitted under the umbrella of status such as Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS)
Summary
Fermentation of edible matrices has been a precious form of food preservation and functional/nutritional enhancement for millennia [1]. Inhae, W. koreensis, W. kimchii, W. cibaria, Lb. plantarum, Lb. sakei, Lb. delbrueckii, Lb. buchneri, Lb. brevis, Lb. fermentum, Ped. acidilactici, Ped. pentosaceus, Lc. lactis, Ent. durans, Tetragenococcus halophilus, Bacillus subtilis, B. lichniformis, B. coagulans, B. cereus, B. circulans, B. firmus, B. pumilus, B. sphaericus Candida sp., Halococcus sp., Haloterrigena sp., Kluyveromyces sp., Lodderomyces sp., Natrialba sp., Natronococcus sp., Pichia sp., Saccharomyces sp., Sporisorium sp., Trichosporon sp., Pseudomonas sp., Halorubrum orientalis, Halosarcina pallid, Sphingobium sp., Thalassomonas agarivorans. Lc. lactis, Lb. plantarum, Lb. pobuzihii, Lb. fructosus, Lb. amylophilus, Lb. coryniformis, Ent. faecium, Ent. faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, B. pumilus, B indicus, Micrococcus sp., Staphylococcus cohnii subsp. Ent., Enterococcus; Lb., Lactobacillus; Lc., Lactococcus; Leuc., Leuconostoc; W., Weissella; Ped., Pediococcus The objective of this list is to provide a brief representation of the dimension of the microbial diversity we deal with in the management of the heterogeneous class of globally fermented foods and beverages. An issue that represents the “living matter” is the basis of the subject of this opinion paper
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