Booklet 8: Food and Industrial Microbiology Flashcards
Give some examples of microbes as food
Edible fungi - mushrooms (fungal fruiting bodies)
Edible algae - seaweed (Porphyra/Nori)
Edible bacteria - cyanobacterium spirulina is used as a single celled protein source and nutritional supplement
List 3 purposes of food fermentation
To preserve food (limit growth of bacteria capable of spoilage)
To improve digestibility (breaking down lactose)
To add nutrients and flavour molecules
What 2 things do fermented foods usually depend on?
indigenous flora
starter cultures
Define indigenous flora
Found naturally in the food
Define a starter culture
From a previous fermentation
List 5 things that major classes of fermentation include
Homolactic acid fermentation (yogurt,cheese)
Propionic acid fermentation (swiss cheese)
Heterolactic acid fermentation (kefir)
Ethanol fermentation (wine, beer)
Alkaline fermentation (brie cheese)
Describe milk fermentation
Begins by lactic acid fermentation with Lactobacillus and Streptococcus. This is followed by rennet proteolysis (by chymosin and pepsin), rendering casein insoluble. The cleaved peptides coagulate to form a semisolid curd. Separated from the liquid portion called whey.
Describe cheese production
- Milk is filtered and subjected to pasteurization.
- Fermenting microbes are added as a starter culture
- Drop in pH and/ or added rennet (stomach proteases) help denature the milk protein called casein which coagulates and precipitates out of the solution as curds.
- The curd is then cut
- Curd is lightly heat-treated
- Curd is shaped into a cold
- Curd is ripened or aged
Define acidic fermentations
Also known as pickling. Examples include cabbage, cucumbers, olives, fermented meats.
Describe the process of pickling (fermentation in brine - which is a high salt environment)
- High salt selects for specific bacteria(Gram positive)
- Starter cultures may be used
- Room temp/cold temp is selective against certain pathogens
List some bacteria used in acidic fermentation
Pediococcus, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, and Leuconostoc
What are some the most popular examples of ethanol fermentation?
Making of bread, beer, or wine
Describe the process of bread making.
Initially bread was allowed to rise using a natural mixture of wild yeasts and heterolactic acid bacteria (sourdough).
More recent development is known as baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)
Pyruvate is converted to ethanol and CO2.
CO2 is a gas and expands and the bread which causes it to rise.
Describe the process of making beer.
Also uses Saccharomyces cerevisiae
This time this bacteria is referred to as Brewer’s yeast.
Beer derives from alcoholic fermentation of grain.
Barley grains are germinated, allowing enzymes to break down the starch to maltose for yeast fermentation.
So maltose is the primary sugar fermented
Secondary products include long chain alcohols and esters generate some of the more specific flavours of beer
Describe the process of making wine
Also uses Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)
Wine derives from alcoholic fermentation of fruit, usually grapes.
The grapes are crushed, and for white wine, the skin of the grapes is removed, for red wine, the skin stays on.
The yeast ferments sucrose, fructose, and glucose to ethanol.
Red wine and some whites undergo malolactic fermentation by Oenococcus omni bacteria which converts malate to lactate plus CO2 reducing the acidity.
How is the making of chocolate started?
Starts with a complex series of natural fermentations.
What refers to a microbial change that renders a product obviously unfit or unpalatable for consumption?
Food spoilage
Describe 4 kinds of food spoilage and the undesired effect that is present due to the food spoilage.
Acids - sour taste
Oxidation of fats - rancidity
Decomposition of proteins - putrefaction
Alkalinity - bitter taste
When is food spoilage considered food contamination or food poisoning?
When pathogens are present