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Direct and Indirect Food Production

The document discusses indirect and direct methods of food production. Indirect methods include baking, yogurt making, cheese making, and brewing which use microorganisms like yeast and bacteria. Direct methods include producing single cell protein from fungi that can be grown on organic waste and used as an alternative protein source.

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anoushka.kumar06
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24 views2 pages

Direct and Indirect Food Production

The document discusses indirect and direct methods of food production. Indirect methods include baking, yogurt making, cheese making, and brewing which use microorganisms like yeast and bacteria. Direct methods include producing single cell protein from fungi that can be grown on organic waste and used as an alternative protein source.

Uploaded by

anoushka.kumar06
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Direct and Indirect food production

From Pearson A level textbook


‘The biological principles behind these methods of producing food are important. The
examination is more likely to test these principles rather than test your memory of the production
processes.’
So I think there could be links to the respiration topic (LV)

Indirect food production


Baking
● Uses Yeast
○ Enzymes in yeast break down the starch in flour and also any added sucrose to
monosaccharides
○ Yeast then respires aerobically until all of the oxygen is used up and then respires
anaerobically (remember is pyruvate produced by the glycolysis of glucose)
■ Alcoholic fermentation
● This produces carbon dioxide and ethanol
● Carbon dioxide bubbles cause the dough to rise
● Ethanol evaporates during cooking

Yoghurt making
● Uses bacteria (eg lactobacillus)
○ Bacteria converts lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid by lactate fermentation
○ (Link to Lac operon - glucose converted to pyruvate using enzymes made by the Lac
operon)
○ Production of lactate/lactic acid lowers the pH. This denatures the milk protein causing it to
thicken and coagulate, and gives a sour taste

Cheese making
● Uses bacteria (eg lactobacillus and rennin)
○ Bacteria converts lactose (milk sugar) to lactic acid by lactate fermentation
○ Rennin coagulates the milk protein casein in the presence of calcium ions
○ This produces curds and whey. The curds are pressed to form cheese.
○ Bacteria and fungi (if added for blue cheese) also produce fatty acids and ketones that give
flavour

Brewing
● Uses yeast
○ Respires anaerobically (alcoholic fermentation) to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide
○ Yeast cannot respire starch so the barley grains are allowed to germinate (malting) which
converts the starch in the grains to maltose which yeast can respire
○ Alcoholic fermentation will stop when the alcohol content becomes too high as ethanol is
toxic to yeast at high concentrations.
○ GM yeast allows brewing to be carried out at a lower temperature than traditional yeast
therefore reducing costs.

Direct food production

Links to the section on Bioreactors

Single cell protein / mycoprotein (Quorn)


● Produced from a fungus (Fusarium venenatum)
● Alternative source of protein to meat for vegetarians
● High in protein and low in fat so a healthy alternative to meat for non-vegetarians
● Can be grown on many organic substrates including human and animal waste materials

● Advantages of direct food production


○ Production is not dependent on seasons - year round source of food
○ Production can be very fast and much faster than growing animals or plants
○ High protein, low fat
○ Can use waste materials as substrates reducing cost
○ No welfare issues
○ Microorganisms can be genetically modified to produce the protein required
○ Can be made to taste like anything

● Disadvantages of direct food production


○ Sterile conditions are needed to ensure only the mycoprotein is grown, these add to the cost
of production
○ Processing is needed to separate the protein from the reactor and make the food
○ The protein also needs to be purified to ensure it does not contain toxins or contaminants
○ Can involve growing GM microorganisms that some people won’t want to eat
○ Palatability - Needs additives to improve the flavour and the texture is different to traditional
proteins
○ Some people may not want to eat food grown on waste

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