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© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
X. Dai et al. (eds.), Fungi in Sustainable Food Production, Fungal Biology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64406-2_4
Chapter 4
Fungi in Food Bioprocessing
Rekha Kumari, Shashank Mishra, and Ashish Sachan
4.1 Introduction
For over a millennium, a majority of human population has taken advantage of natural fermentation processes to swage over a wide range of products including cheese,
bread, yoghurt, beer, wine and different other beverages. Earlier the reasons behind
these fermentative processes were not established, until relatively recently researchers tried to fill in the technical gap via exploring the world of microorganisms
responsible for these processes.
Fermentation is often defined as a process where microbes act upon food considering it as an external source of energy. Fermentation basically converts sugars that
are present in food into acids, thereby improving the taste, texture and odour of food
products. This process also helps upon improving the food’s storage life along with
its quality and thus reduces the growth of unwanted microbes responsible for food
spoilage. There are different microbes responsible for carrying out these fermentations. A major portion of fermented food products are produced using fungal species. Fungal fermented food products are those in which the fungal species (yeasts
and moulds) primarily play an important in modifying the desirable qualities of
fermented food products.
R. Kumari
Department of Bio-Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra,
Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
S. Mishra (*)
Quality Control and Quality Assurance Laboratory, Biotech Park,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
A. Sachan (*)
Department of Life Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
e-mail: ashish.sachan@cuj.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
X. Dai et al. (eds.), Fungi in Sustainable Food Production, Fungal Biology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64406-2_4
Chapter 4
Fungi in Food Bioprocessing
Rekha Kumari, Shashank Mishra, and Ashish Sachan
4.1 Introduction
For over a millennium, a majority of human population has taken advantage of natural fermentation processes to swage over a wide range of products including cheese,
bread, yoghurt, beer, wine and different other beverages. Earlier the reasons behind
these fermentative processes were not established, until relatively recently researchers tried to fill in the technical gap via exploring the world of microorganisms
responsible for these processes.
Fermentation is often defined as a process where microbes act upon food considering it as an external source of energy. Fermentation basically converts sugars that
are present in food into acids, thereby improving the taste, texture and odour of food
products. This process also helps upon improving the food’s storage life along with
its quality and thus reduces the growth of unwanted microbes responsible for food
spoilage. There are different microbes responsible for carrying out these fermentations. A major portion of fermented food products are produced using fungal species. Fungal fermented food products are those in which the fungal species (yeasts
and moulds) primarily play an important in modifying the desirable qualities of
fermented food products.
R. Kumari
Department of Bio-Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra,
Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
S. Mishra (*)
Quality Control and Quality Assurance Laboratory, Biotech Park,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
A. Sachan (*)
Department of Life Sciences, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
e-mail: ashish.sachan@cuj.ac.in