Techniques in Microbial Culture

FERMENTATION IN FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY

Fermentation is an important part of our lives. The relevance of fermentation to day to day life is evident from the fact that food can be both spoiled and made by fermentation. Many of the foods used for human consumption are fermented foods. Fermentation is one of the oldest techniques used for food preservation. Muscle cells use fermentation to provide energy for a quick response. The oldest food biotechnological processes include the baking of yeast leavened breads, brewing of beer, sake and wine, and production of yogurt and cheese. Biotechnology can improve the baking process with improvements in cereal grains and starter culture

through recombinant DNA technology, use of enzymes as processing aids, and application of advanced batch and continuous fermentation technologies.

TYPES OF FERMENTATION
The fermentation process is mainly divided into two broad categories: submerged fermentation and solid-state fermentation. The first has been readily employed in industries for large scale production of alcohol, organic acids, enzymes, antibiotics, vitamins, and amino acids. Solid-state fermentation has been used for the production of microbial metabolites from fungi, but suffers from limitations of operation at large scales due to operational difficulties.