Prospects for Food Fermentation in South-East Asia, Topics From the Tropical Fermentation and Biotechnology Network at the End of the AsiFood Erasmus+Project

Abstract

Fermentation has been used for centuries to produce food in South-East Asia and some foods of this region are famous in the whole world. However, in the twenty first century, issues like food safety and quality must be addressed in a world changing from local business to globalization. In Western countries, the answer to these questions has been made through hygienisation, generalization of the use of starters, specialization of agriculture and use of long-distance transportation. This may have resulted in a loss in the taste and typicity of the products, in an extensive use of antibiotics and other chemicals and eventually, in a loss in the confidence of consumers to the products. The challenges awaiting fermentation in South-East Asia are thus to improve safety and quality in a sustainable system producing tasty and typical fermented products and valorising by-products. At the end of the “AsiFood Erasmus+ project” (www.asifood.org), the goal of this paper is to present and discuss these challenges as addressed by the Tropical Fermentation Network, a group of researchers from universities, research centers and companies in Asia and Europe. This paper presents current actions and prospects on hygienic, environmental, sensorial and nutritional qualities of traditional fermented food including screening of functional bacteria and starters, food safety strategies, research for new antimicrobial compounds, development of more sustainable fermentations and valorisation of by-products. A specificity of this network is also the multidisciplinary approach dealing with microbiology, food, chemical, sensorial, and genetic analyses, biotechnology, food supply chain, consumers and ethnology.

Unraveling the Contribution of High Temperature Stage to Jiang-Flavor Daqu, a Liquor Starter for Production of Chinese Jiang-Flavor Baijiu, With Special Reference to Metatranscriptomics

“…Similar liquor starters can be found in many Asian countries, e.g., xiaoqu/fuqu in China ( Zheng and Han, 2016 ; Jin et al, 2017 ), meju in Korea ( Kim et al, 2011 ), ragi in Indonesia ( Fibri and Frøst, 2019 ), marcha/thiat/dawdim/hamei/chowan in India ( Sha et al, 2018 ), bubod in Philippines ( Tamang et al, 2016 ), and banh men in Vietnam ( Thanh et al, 2008 ). All those liquor starters are prepared in an open system with starchy materials (wheat, rice, etc), shaped into different sizes and shapes, and cultured under different conditions (temperature and time) ( Liu and Sun, 2018 ; Sha et al, 2018 ; Waché et al, 2018 ). Among them, JF daqu is made from wheat, shaped into brick, and produced with two steps of spontaneous fermentation for approximately 1 month in a Qu-room and drying for another 3 months without ventilation in a storage room ( Huang et al, 2017b ; Jin et al, 2017 ).…”

Biogenic Amine Contents and Microbial Characteristics of Cambodian Fermented Foods

“…The transcription of many decarboxylase genes is induced by a low pH value, which improves the fitness of the microbial cells subjected to acidic stress [19]. As the decarboxylation of amino acids is a mechanism of BA-forming bacteria to counteract acidic stress and to adapt to environmental conditions, their decarboxylase activity increases, resulting in higher BA concentrations [7,58]. Hence, it contributed to higher BA contents (Table 4).…”

Evolution of Food Fermentation Processes and the Use of Multi-Omics in Deciphering the Roles of the Microbiota

“…The most ubiquitous type of fermented food is yoghurt (made from milk), which was produced and consumed throughout the Middle East and Europe and has become a major component of the human diet worldwide [6]. In East Asia, a series of fermented food products, mainly based on rice, Foods 2021, 10, 2861 2 of 19 soybean, vegetables, and fish, have been developed and are still produced and consumed on a daily basis; examples of such products include Korean kimchi and Japanese natto, which have gained popularity worldwide owing to their unique taste and proven health benefits [7].…”