Previous chapters looked at the role microorganisms play in medical biotechnology. This chapter will look at the different types of microorganisms used in the food industry. It will look at some essential chemical reactions triggered by microorganisms for the production of different types of food products.
Fermentation
Fermentation is the process of anaerobic conversion of polysaccharides to carbon dioxide and ethanol by unicellular fungi - yeast. It consists of a series of chemical reactions. The simplified fermentation reaction equation for the 6-carbon sugar, glucose, is: 2 CH3CH2OH 2 CO2 + ethanol carbon dioxide
C6H12O6 glucose
The industrial process of fermentation involves growing large numbers of microorganisms for various chemical or pharmaceutical productions. Microorganisms are usually incubated under specific conditions in large tanks called fermenters. Chemical conversion by microorganisms is also referred to as bioprocessing. The process of fermentation is used to produce wine, beer, bread and yogurt and in food preservation to create lactic acid in sour foods such as pickled cucumbers and olives. The study of fermentation is called zymology. See image 1.
Lactic acid bacteria are also used in pickling food products. During cucumber pickling, lactic acid bacteria grow and digest sugars in the cucumber, producing lactic acid. This acid gives the pickles their characteristic sour taste and it controls the spread of spoilage-causing microbes. By digesting the sugars, lactic acid bacteria remove a potential food source for bad bacteria. That is why pickling has been used as a food preservation method for centuries.
Science of Bread
Bread making depends on the activities of micro-organisms. It is an ancient craft but in the 21st century bread making has been transformed into an industrial process allowing controlled production on a large scale with a more predictable final product. However in many cultures and families bread is still made using traditional methods. The dry ingredients used in bread-making include flour, usually from wheat, salt, sugar, ascorbic acid and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Water or milk is added to produce a thick, sticky dough which is folded repeatedly or kneaded. This dough is rested, folded again then shaped into tins. The dough is left to "prove" in a humid atmosphere at approximately 35 Celsius. It is then reshaped and left to "prove" some more. During the "proving" process, fermentation of sugars in the dough, catalysed by enzymes from the yeast cells, produces carbon dioxide. The series of reactions that occur with the help of enzymes from yeast are: maltese from yeast a) Maltose in flour invertase from yeast b) Sucrose from added sugar zymase from yeast Fermentation reaction: c) Glucose + fructose from previous reactions produce alcohol + carbon dioxide produces glucose + fructose produces glucose
The production of carbon dioxide is needed to make the dough rise, or increase in volume. This process is called leavening. Adding ascorbic acid (vitamin C) makes the dough more elastic and better at trapping gases and as a result reduces the time required for leavening, which is an important consideration in commercial bread production. The overall effects of leavening are to make the dough lighter, more easily digested and with better flavour, enhanced by the production of organic acids, alcohols and esters by yeast cells. Baking evaporates off any alcohol and inactivates the yeast. It also causes bubbles of carbon dioxide to move through the dough, giving the bread a spongy texture after baking. Biotechnologists are currently attempting to improve strains of yeast used in bread-making, aiming to produce more active, better flavoured strains which can make dough rise at lower temperatures, and in less time.