Role of microorganism in Fermentation foods

The  development of  fermentation technologies is lost  in  the  mists  of  history Anthropologists have suggested  that  it was the production  of alcohol that motivated primitive people  to settle down and become agriculturists.  Some even think that  the consumption of fermented  foods is pre-human.  The first fermented  foods consumed probably were fermented fruits. Hunter-gatherers  would have consumed fresh fruits but  at times  of  scarcity  would  have eaten  rotten and fermented fruits. Repeated consumption would have led  to  the  development  of  the taste  for fermented fruits.

There is a reliable information that fermented drinks were being produced over 7,000 years  ago  in  Babylon (now  Iraq), 5,000 years  ago  in Egypt,  4,000 years  ago  in Mexico and 3,500 years  ago  in  Sudan. Bread-making probably originated  in Egypt over 3,500 years ago. Several triangular loaves of bread  have been found  in  ancient  tombs. Fermentation  of milk started  I many places with  an evidence of fermented products in use  in Babylon over 5,000 years  ago.  There is also  evidence of fermented meat  products  being  produced for King Nebuchadnezer of Babylon. China is thought to be the birth-place of fermented vegetables and 'the use of Aspergillus and Rhizopus moulds to make food. The book called  "Shu-Ching" written in  the  Chou dynasty  in China (1  121-256 BC)  refers  to the  use  of  "chu"-  a fermented  grain  product.

Having  looked at  the history  of  fermentation, let  us  review  and  see  what  I fermentation? Fermentation  is the slow decomposition process of organic substance induced  by  microorganisms, or by complex nitrogenous substances (enzymes)  o  plant or animal origin.  It  can be  described  as  a  biochemical  change,  which is brought about by  the anaerobic or partially  anaerobic oxidation of carbohydrates  by either microorganisms  or enzymes.

You know that microorganisms  are naturally found in foods, since there is no environment where  some type of microbes cannot live. These microbes either living or dead and their  cellular byproducts all  have specific uses in some foods. These  include  such products  as fermented food products. Fermented  foods use microbes to  convert the original  food into a  fermented product  by  the use  of  specific  microbes.  These  microorganisms  use the  original product for growth and reproduction, and  in  the process, they  excrete byproducts  into  the environment  surrounding themselves and the food.  These byproducts  plus the part  of the  original product  that  is  no consumed  is  the fermented  food.  Fermented  foods  include fermented dairy, meat, fish, cereals, fruits, vegetable products  etc. They may  be fermented separately  or I conjunction with each other to produce  the  desirable end product.