Microbial Fermentation of Food: Beneficial Strains, Active Substances, Functional Properties

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 2754

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: microbial fermentation of food; food flavor; metabolite synthesis mechanism; strain breeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microorganisms play an important role in the process of food fermentation. With the improvement of people's living standard, the quality and functional characteristics of fermented food have been paid more attention. Therefore, in order to fully understand and improve the active substances and their functional properties of fermented foods, this topic will focus on the screening and modification of beneficial strains in the food fermentation process, the active substances produced in the fermentation process and their identification, and the corresponding functional properties.

Dr. Ling Sun
Dr. Xinping Lin
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • food fermentation
  • food microbiology
  • fermentation technology
  • fermented food
  • functional properties

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3680 KiB  
Article
Bioprocessing of Sargassum fusiforme via Lactobacillus Fermentation: Effects on Nutrient Composition, Organoleptic Properties, and In Vitro Antioxidant and Hypoglycemic Activities
by Chao Zhang, Houyun Zhang, Shengli Lin and Laijin Su
Foods 2025, 14(8), 1385; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14081385 - 17 Apr 2025
Viewed by 269
Abstract
Sargassum fusiforme is an abundant source of biologically active compounds that are released during fermentation. However, the effects of Lactobacillus fermentation on the nutrient composition of S. fusiforme have yet to be sufficiently determined. In this study, we used five strains of Lactobacillus [...] Read more.
Sargassum fusiforme is an abundant source of biologically active compounds that are released during fermentation. However, the effects of Lactobacillus fermentation on the nutrient composition of S. fusiforme have yet to be sufficiently determined. In this study, we used five strains of Lactobacillus to ferment S. fusiforme and examined changes in the bioactive components, volatile compounds, and bioactivities of the fermentation supernatants. Among the assessed strains, fermentation with Lactobacillus delbrueckii promoted significant increases in the total phenolic contents, and fermentation with all strains contributed to reductions in the levels of undesirable volatile compounds associated with the characteristic odor of S. fusiforme. In addition, S. fusiforme fermented using L. delbrueckii showed superior ABTS radical scavenging activity, whereas S. fusiforme fermented using L. plantarum FY03 (PF-3) or L. plantarum FY02 (PF-2) showed enhanced DPPH radical scavenging capacity, and fermentation using L. rhamnosus promoted the highest ferric-ion-reducing power. Moreover, the inhibition of α-glucosidase activity increased by 2.0- to 3.0-fold in fermented S. fusiforme, whereas the inhibition of α-amylase activity was only significantly augmented by the PF-2 and PF-3 strains. These findings highlight the potential health benefits of Lactobacillus-fermented S. fusiforme, particularly the enhanced antioxidant activities and the capacity to inhibit α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities. Full article
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13 pages, 2248 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Microbial Diversity Dominating Nitrite Enzymatic Degradation and Acidic Degradation in the Fermentation Broth of Northeast Sauerkraut
by Xiangru Xu, Meng Zhang, Yuefei Tao and Wei Wei
Foods 2024, 13(24), 4168; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13244168 - 23 Dec 2024
Viewed by 753
Abstract
Nitrite hazard is an important food safety issue in the production process of Chinese Northeastern sauerkraut, but this nitrite can be eliminated through microbial enzymatic degradation and acidic degradation as fermentation progresses. Therefore, analyzing the microbial diversity that dominates nitrite degradation in Chinese [...] Read more.
Nitrite hazard is an important food safety issue in the production process of Chinese Northeastern sauerkraut, but this nitrite can be eliminated through microbial enzymatic degradation and acidic degradation as fermentation progresses. Therefore, analyzing the microbial diversity that dominates nitrite degradation in Chinese Northeastern sauerkraut can provide a reference for its safe production. In this study, based on the dynamic monitoring of nitrite concentration, pH, and the abundance of nitrite reductase genes (nirK and nirS) and the application of high-throughput sequencing technology and various statistical analysis methods, the microbial groups associated with nitrite enzymatic degradation and acidic degradation in Northeast sauerkraut fermentation broth were analyzed. During the nitrite peak period of Northeast sauerkraut fermentation broth, the nitrite concentration reached 32.15 mg/kg, the pH was 4.7, and the abundances of the nitrite reductase genes nirK and nirS were 3.0 × 104 and 4.9 × 104 copies/μL, respectively. At this stage, nitrite degradation was likely dominated by enzymatic activities. Microbial phyla such as Bacteroidetes (38.8%), Proteobacteria (19.2%), and the archaeal phylum Euryarchaeota (1.1%) showed strong correlations with nitrite. Among the genera within these three phyla, Chryseobacterium, Elizabethkingia, and Aeromonas exhibited significant differences in abundance compared to the late fermentation stage and were identified as the primary microbial groups likely driving the enzymatic degradation. During the nitrite degradation period, the nitrite concentration decreased to 0.04 mg/kg, the pH dropped to 3.6, and the abundances of nirK and nirS genes were reduced to 1.0 × 103 copies/μL. At this stage, the nitrite degradation was primarily driven by acid activity. The bacterial phylum Firmicutes (99%) exhibited a strong correlation with pH. Within this phylum, the genus Lactobacillus, which showed significant differences in abundance compared to the early fermentation stage, was identified as the primary microbial group indirectly contributing to acidic degradation. This study provides guidance for the isolation of food-grade prokaryotic microbial strains capable of nitrite degradation. Additionally, the findings offer a methodological reference for conducting future research on nitrite-degrading microorganisms in fermented vegetable broths. Full article
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19 pages, 2657 KiB  
Article
Effects of Wickerhamomyces anomalus Co-Fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Volatile Flavor Profiles during Steamed Bread Making Using Electronic Nose and HS-SPME-GC-MS
by Xialiang Ding, Meixiang Yue, Henghao Gu, Suyang Li, Shiyi Chen, Liang Wang and Ling Sun
Foods 2024, 13(16), 2490; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13162490 - 8 Aug 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1275
Abstract
Steamed bread is a traditional staple food in China, and it has gradually become loved by people all over the world because of its healthy production methods. With the improvement in people’s living standards, the light flavor of steamed bread fermented by single [...] Read more.
Steamed bread is a traditional staple food in China, and it has gradually become loved by people all over the world because of its healthy production methods. With the improvement in people’s living standards, the light flavor of steamed bread fermented by single yeast cannot meet people’s needs. Multi-strain co-fermentation is a feasible way to improve the flavor of steamed bread. Here, the dynamic change profiles of volatile substances in steamed bread co-fermented by Saccharomyces cerevisiae SQJ20 and Wickerhamomyces anomalus GZJ2 were analyzed using the electronic nose (E-nose) and headspace solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). The five detectors of the E-nose rapidly detected the changes in volatile substances in different dough or steamed bread with the highest response value in co-fermented dough. A total of 236 volatile substances were detected in all the samples using HS-SPME-GC-MS, and alcohols were the most variable component, especially Phenylethyl alcohol. Significantly, more alcohols and esters were upregulated in co-fermented dough, and the addition of W. anomalus GZJ2 improved the key volatile aroma compounds of steamed bread using the relative odor activity value method (ROAV), especially the aldehydes and alcohols. Moreover, these key volatile aroma compounds can be quickly distinguished using the W2S detector of the E-nose, which can be used for the rapid detection of aroma components in steamed bread. Full article
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