0% found this document useful (0 votes)
24 views22 pages

M4 Lecture 4 Microorganism in Food

Uploaded by

leehinchung7761
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
24 views22 pages

M4 Lecture 4 Microorganism in Food

Uploaded by

leehinchung7761
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 22

BIOL1110 From Molecules to Cells

Module 4: Biotechnology in environment, food and medicine


Lecture 4: Microorganism in Food
As food

Food
production

Microorganisms

Food spoilage
Why use microbes as “master chef”
in food production?

• Microbes grow rapidly under favorable conditions 


food can be produced quickly

• Conditions/microenvironment for microbial growth


can be easily controlled food can be made in
different locations and at any time of the year

• Food can last longer than raw materials (e.g.,


cheese can be stored longer than milk)
Properties of a useful microorganism in food industry

• Nonpathogenic

• Grow rapidly and produce the desired product


in a short time

• Able to grow in a relatively inexpensive liquid


culture medium available in large quantities

• Can be manipulated genetically (i.e., increased


yields can be obtained by mutation and
selection)
Fermentation
- Used in many food production

• Releases energy from


sugars or other organic
molecules
• Does not require
oxygen (can occur in its
presence)
• Uses an organic
molecule as the final
electron acceptor
• Produces only small
amount of ATP
• Formation of
fermentation end-
products (CO2, lactic
acid, ethanol)
Bacteria in dairy industry: Cheese production

• Cheese is produced by fermentation of milk by


lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus).
• Curdling: Reduction of pH of milk by lactic acid
and addition of an enzyme (e.g. rennin/chymosin
– originally from calf stomach, and now from
genetically engineered bacteria) cause milk to
separate into solid (curd) and liquid (whey).
• The whey is drained off, leaving the solid curd.
• The cheese is then allowed to ripen to give the
taste and texture (e.g., Propionibacterium
produces CO2, which forms the holes in Swiss
cheese).
• To make blue cheese, a mold (e.g., Penicillium
roqueforti) is added during curdling. The mold
creates blue veins and gives the cheese its
characteristic flavor.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz7qT9oqYGA
Bacteria in dairy industry
Vegetarian Cheese Blue cheese (or yellow, red, white)
• Cheese is not strictly vegetarian • Roquefort, Gorgonzola etc.. are prized
for their distinctive tastes and
• Chymosin (contained in rennet) is derived characteristic blue veins
from the stomach of calves in the period • The color is created by the mold
when they are still exclusively fed milk Penicillium roqueforti
• The pigments (DHN-melanins) are
• Rennet genes can be introduced in bacteria produced by enzymes encoded by 6
and fungi (e.g. genetically modified genes
Aspergillus niger strain by Chr. Hansen), • Disrupting each of these gene in turn,
which produce recombinant chymosin you could make white, yellowish to
during fermentation pinkish red cheese with the same taste

• Recombinant fermentation-produced
chymosin (FPC) is used in 60% of USA
cheeses

• Cannot be used in most “trademarked” (i.e.


with Protected Designation of Origin)
European cheeses
Bacteria in dairy industry: Yogurt production
• Milk is pasteurized by heating at 90oC for
20 min before being cooled to 45oC. Or
HTST (30 sec at 74 oC)
• ¼ of water has been evaporated in a
vacuum pan, resulting in thickened milk
• Two types of lactic acid bacteria (e.g.,
Lactobacillus and Streptococcus) are
added to milk. The mixture is incubated at
a specific temperature (e.g., 45oC for 5 h).
• Bacteria ferment lactose to lactic acid,
which causes milk to solidify into yogurt
(pH = 4).
• Fresh fruits, flavoring, or coloring is added
before yogurt is packaged. Refrigeration
inhibits further fermentation (most
yoghurts contain live bacteria).
• Probiotic yogurt contain beneficial
microbes
Yeasts in brewing industry: Beer production
1. Malting: Soaking barley in water triggers
germination. Enzymes in barley grains (e.g.
amylase) break down starch into simple sugars.
2. Boiling: Hops (dried flowers of the female vine)
are added to add flavor (bitterness) to beer and
inhibit spoilage. The mixture is boiled to kill
unwanted microbes.
3. Fermentation: Yeast cells (e.g. S. cerevisiae for
bitters or S. carlsbergensis for lagers) are added to
the mixture, which convert sugars into ethanol
(alcoholic fermentation).
4. Beer is fermented slowly with yeast remain on the
bottom (bottom yeast); ale is fermented relatively
rapidly, at a higher temperature, with yeast strains
that usually form clumps that are buoyed to the
top by CO2 (top yeast).
5. Maturation and Filtering: Secondary
fermentation; requires a long time (~1 month) in
the cold for precipitation; beer is separated from
yeast by filtration. Some beers are pasteurized to • Most wine is produced from grapes.
Some is produced from other sources
extend shelf life. (e.g. rum from cane sugar and vodka
from potatoes).
Yeast in baking industry: Bread production
Baker’s Yeast

• Bread is produced using flour, yeast cells


(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and water.
• Enzymes in yeast and in flour (e.g.,
amylase) break down starch in flour into
glucose.
• Bread dough is kneaded repeatedly to
encourage anaerobic conditions.
• The yeast uses glucose for respiration
and fermentation, leading to production
of CO2, which forms small bubbles in the
dough.
• Upon baking, CO2 expands and causes
the bread dough to rise, giving the
bread a porous structure and a soft
texture.
Other microbial food products

Amino acids
• Has an advantage over chemical
production, because only forms L-
isomer
• L-glutamate is used to make the flavor
enhancer monosodium glutamate
(MSG)
• Lysine and methionine cannot be
synthesized by animals. Thus, are
produced as cereal food supplements
• Phenylalanine and aspartate are
ingredients in sugar-free sweetener
aspartame
• Sometimes need to select mutants
that produce amino acids in excess
Other microbial food products
Enzymes
• Example 1: Amylase (from bloom of molds) are used in the production of syrups from
corn starch as the enzyme catalyzes the breakdown of starch into sugars. α-Amylases can
be produced from Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus stearothermophilus
• Example 2: Glucose isomerase converts glucose to fructose, as a sweetener

Vitamins
• Microbes can provide an inexpensive source of some vitamins (B 12, B2, C). Large scale
production of vitamin B12 occurs via microbial fermentation, predominantly utilizing
Pseudomonas denitrificans, Propionibacterium shermanii, or Sinorhizobium meliloti

Pharmaceuticals
• Antibiotics are typically made industrially by
inoculating a solution of growth medium with
spores of the appropriate mold or Streptomyces
and vigorously aerating it.
• Microorganisms can synthesize steroids from
sterols
Food Spoilage
• Food contamination: conditions created to
grow desirable microbes may also favor the
growth of harmful microbes
 food spoilage and food poisoning

Microorganism Growth in Foods


• Intrinsic/food-related factors: pH, moisture
content, water availability, oxidation-
reduction potential, physical structure of the
food, available nutrients, and possible
presence of natural antimicrobial agents
(e.g., in fruits, vegetables, cow’s milk, eggs,
herbs, and spices)
• Extrinsic/environmental factors:
temperature, relative humidity, and gases
present
Methods to prevent food spoilage
- Killing microbes (1)
Heating
 Pasteurization – heating food to a temperature
that kills disease-causing microorganism (based on
a statistical probability that the remaining viable
microbes will be below a certain level)
- Major types:
1. Low-temperature pasteurization: 60oC for 30
min. (e.g., milk, beers, and fruit juices)
2. High temperature short time (HTST): 72oC for 15
seconds
3. Ultra-high temperature (UHT): 140oC for 2
seconds (e.g milk), extended shelf life

The type of pasteurization does affect taste


Methods to prevent food spoilage
- Killing microbes (2)
 Canned food
• Industrial food canning undergo commercial sterilization by steam under pressure,
which operate on the same principle as an autoclave (higher pressure allows higher
temperature, e.g., 15 psi  121oC)
• Can kill endospore-forming Clostridium botulinum (which produces the neurotoxin
botulinum)
• 12D treatment (12-decimal reduction), i.e., if there were 1012 (1,000,000,000,000)
endospores in a can, after treatment there would be only 1 survivor.
• But if the canned food is not stored properly (e.g., stored at high temperatures), the
thermophilic bacteria that often survive commercial sterilization can germinate and
grow (known as thermophilic anaerobic spoilage)
Methods to prevent food spoilage
- Killing microbes (3)
Irradiation
• Exposing food to ionising radiation (X-
rays or gamma rays, for deep
penetration)
• Kills microbes and extend shelf life
• Does not induce radioactivity in food
• Irradiation in commercial amounts to
treat food has no negative impact on
the sensory qualities and nutrient
content of foods.
Methods to prevent food spoilage
- lower temperature
• Refrigeration
- Only slows microbial growth, but
does not reduce the number

• Freezing:
- Keeps food at sub-zero temperatures
(e.g. -20oC), also won’t kill microbes but
stop them growing
- Slows down biochemical (enzymatic)
reactions in microbes and freezes water
in food (making it unavailable to
microbes).
- Can preserve food for months
Methods to prevent food spoilage -
Dehydration
• Salting:
- Inhibits growth of microbes by removing
water from food by osmosis.
- Some meats are salted, and canned
foods are stored in salt solutions.

• Sugaring:
- e.g., fruit jams.
Methods to prevent food spoilage
- Affecting pH or microbial metabolism

• Pickling:
- Preserves food in vinegar
- Low pH (<4.6) reduces enzyme activity in
microbes  growth inhibition

• Chemicals (food preservatives):


- Sodium propionate in bread is toxic to mold
- Sodium nitrate preserve ham, sausage,
bacon by inhibiting the growth of Clostridium
- Bacteriocins – e.g., nisin, produced by
Streptococcus, is nontoxic to humans but affect
Clostridium

Bacteriocins is peptide toxins produced by bacteria to


inhibit the growth of similar or closely related
bacterial strain; antibiotics have a wider activity
spectrum

You might also like