Starter cultures have great significance in the food industry due to their vital role in the manufacture, flavour, and texture development of fermented foods. Once mainly used in the dairy industry, nowadays starter cultures are applied across a variety of food products, including meat, sourdough, vegetables, wine and fish. New data on the potential health benefits of these organisms has led to additional interest in starter bacteria. Starter Cultures in Food Production details the most recent insights into starter cultures. Opening with a brief description of the current selection protocols and industrial production of starter cultures, the book then focuses on the innovative research aspects of starter cultures in food production. Case studies for the selection of new starter cultures for different food products (sourdough and cereal based foods, table olives and vegetables, dairy and meat products, fish and wine) are presented before chapters devoted to the role of lactic acid bacteria in alkaline fermentations and ethnic fermented foods. This book will provide food producers, researchers and students with a tentative answer to the emerging issues of how to use starter cultures and how microorganisms could play a significant role in the complex process of food innovation.

Preservation by fermentation is one of the oldest food technologies, and yet it continues to play an important role in meat preservation in many parts of the world. These processes can be relatively simple, with minimal microbial involvement, or more complex, involving defined ingredients and starter cultures with controlled environmental conditions. Most meat fermentations rely on the use of salt as an ingredient, sometimes with the addition of nitrate, nitrite and spices. In some cases the meat may be smoked and, as with some cheese fermentations, fermented meats may be ripened by moulds and yeasts. The preservation of meats by fermentation depends on the interaction of a number of environmental and microbio logical factors including the pH, water activity, redox potential and the presence of preservatives and a competitive microftora. The subject of fermented meats is an important but relatively specialised area of microbiology and food technology. Few books have specifically addressed this subject and the topic has usually been dealt with in reviews and research papers with a significant proportion of these being published in languages other than English. As far as we are aware, this volume is the first to bring together a selection of key topics relating to the production of fermented meats and their chemical and microbiological properties. The book begins with a general chapter on the properties of meat.

As antibacterial compounds, bacteriocins have always lived in the shadow of those medically important, efficient and often broad-spectrum low-molecular mass antimicrobials, well known even to laypeople as antibiotics. This is despite the fact that bacteriocins were discovered as early as 1928, a year before the penicillin saga started. Bacteriocins are antimicrobial proteins or oligopeptides, displaying a much narrower activity spectrum than antibiotics; they are mainly active against bacterial strains taxonomically closely related to the producer strain, which is usually immune to its own bacteriocin. They form a heterogenous group with regard to the taxonomy of the producing bacterial strains, mode of action, inhibitory spectrum and protein structure and composition. Best known are the colicins and microcins produced by Enterobacteriaceae. Many other Gram-negative as well as Gram-positive bacteria have now been found to produce bacteriocins. In the last decade renewed interest has focused on the bacteriocins from lactic acid bacteria, which are industrially and agriculturally very important. Some of these compounds are even active against food spoilage bacteria and endospore formers and also against certain clinically important (food-borne) pathogens. Recently, bacteriocins from lactic acid bacteria have been studied intensively from every possible scientific angle: microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and food technology. Intelligent screening is going on to find novel compounds with unexpected properties, just as has happened (and is still happening) with the antibiotics. Knowledge, especially about bacteriocins from lactic acid bacteria, is accumulating very rapidly.

Flavour is key to the acceptance of cheese products among consumers and is therefore a critical issue for professionals in the dairy industry. However, the manufacture of cheeses that are consistently safe and flavourful often eludes scientists. Developments such as high throughput genome sequencing and metabolite analysis are having a significant impact on research, leading to the development of new tools to control and improve the flavour of cheese. With contributions from an international array of acclaimed authors, Improving the flavour of cheese, provides crucial reviews of recent research in the field.The book begins with a summary of cheese ripening and the compounds associated with cheese flavour. Part one discusses the metabolism of specific substrates to flavour compounds by microbes associated with milk and cheese. Part two reviews the influence of ingredients, processing and certain chemical and physical factors on cheese flavour. Part three addresses the measurement of cheese flavour. The book concludes with a selection of case studies on specific product types such as hard Italian, brined cheese, as well as low fat and soft-ripened cheeses.Improving the flavour of cheese provides a unique review of emerging techniques and ideas to control the flavour of cheese. This original book will be a standard reference for those concerned with the development and manufacture of cheese. - Discusses the wealth of research in the area of flavour development - Reviews the influence of ingredients, processing and certain chemical and physical factors on cheese flavour - Concludes with a selection of case studies on specific product types

This book brings together information concerning starter culture bacteria in the manufacture of many milk, meat, vegetable, and bakery products. The characteristics and functions of these bacteria in the production of cultured foods, as well as factors which affect their performance, are discussed in detail. Topics include the role of plasmids in starter culture bacteria, the function of these bacteria as food preservatives, nutritional and health benefits, and future applications. Authors provide historical background as an introduction to each chapter. This will be a valuable reference book for food industry technologists and academicians.

In developing countries, traditional fermentation serves many purposes. It can improve the taste of an otherwise bland food, enhance the digestibility of a food that is difficult to assimilate, preserve food from degradation by noxious organisms, and increase nutritional value through the synthesis of essential amino acids and vitamins. Although "fermented food" has a vaguely distasteful ring, bread, wine, cheese, and yogurt are all familiar fermented foods. Less familiar are gari, ogi, idli, ugba, and other relatively unstudied but important foods in some African and Asian countries. This book reports on current research to improve the safety and nutrition of these foods through an elucidation of the microorganisms and mechanisms involved in their production. Also included are recommendations for needed research.

This book provides an extensive overview of the latest research in environmentally benign integrated bioprocess technology. The cutting edge bioprocess technologies highlighted in the book include bioenergy from lignocellulose materials, biomass gasification, ethanol, butanol, biodiesel from agro waste, enzymatic bioprocess technology, food fermentation with starter cultures, and intellectual property rights for bioprocesses. This book further addresses niche technologies in bioprocesses that broadens readers’ understanding of downstream processing for bio products and membrane technology for bioprocesses. The latest developments in biomass and bioenergy technology are reviewed exhaustively, including IPR rights, nanotechnology for bioenergy products, biomass gasification, and biomass combustion. This is an ideal book for scientists, engineers, students, as well as members of industry and policy-makers. This book also: Addresses cutting-edge technologies in bioprocesses Broadens readers’ understanding of metabolic engineering, downstream processing for bioproducts, and membrane technology for bioprocesses Reviews exhaustively the latest developments in biomass and bioenergy technology, including nanotechnology for bioenergy products, biomass gasification, biomass combustion, and more