The Munkoyo Root: Traditional Uses, Biochemistry, Fermentation, and Potential Cultivation

Moonga, Himoonga Bernard; Phiri, Sydney; Schoustra, Sijmen E.; Chileshe, Justin; Chirwa-Moonga, Taonga; Shindano, John

doi:10.1021/bk-2020-1361.ch004

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The result that differences in temperature could be the main force resulting in communities with different bacterial community structure is in line with earlier work that had found that raw materials and associated composition of the microbiota did not determine the final microbial community composition [ 7 , 9 , 39 ]. This work experimentally analyzed the microbial community composition before and after fermentation in traditional maize based fermented food Munkoyo [ 7 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Environmental Selection Shapes Bacterial Community Composition in Traditionally Fermented Maize-Based Foods from Benin, Tanzania and Zambia

et al. 2022

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Natural (microbial) communities are complex ecosystems with many interactions and cross-dependencies. Among other factors, selection pressures from the environment are thought to drive the composition and functionality of microbial communities. Fermented foods, when processed using non-industrial methods, harbor such natural microbial communities. In non-alcoholic fermented foods the fermenting microbiota is commonly dominated by 4–10 species of bacteria, which make them suitable model systems to study ecosystem assembly and functioning. In this study, we assess the influence of the environment on the composition of microbial communities of traditional fermented products from Africa. We compare differences between microbial communities that are found in similar products but come from different countries, hypothesizing they experience different environmental selection pressures. We analyzed bacterial community composition in 36 samples of various cereal-based fermented foods from Benin, Tanzania and Zambia using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. The differential abundance analysis indicates that the bacterial communities of fermented foods from the three countries are dominated by mostly lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genera of Lactobacillus, Weisella and Curvibacter. The samples from Zambia contain the most dissimilar microbial communities in comparison with samples from Benin and Tanzania. We propose this is caused by the relatively low temperature in Zambia, suggesting that indeed environmental selection can shape community composition of fermenting microbes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Environmental Selection Shapes Bacterial Community Composition in Traditionally Fermented Maize-Based Foods from Benin, Tanzania and Zambia

et al. 2022

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“…According to Zulu et al [40] and Moonga et al [41], in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a traditionally fermented, cereal-based beverage called munkoyo that is produced by hydrolysis of gelatinized starch of maize porridge and spontaneously fermented by microbes at ambient temperature. The beverage is consumed by both children and adults.…”

Section: Linking Traditional Food Products With Territory and Ethnic ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate change-induced natural disasters on intangible cultural heritage related to food: a review

et al. 2022

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The increased frequency of extreme climate-induced natural disasters (floods, cyclones, mud slides, heat waves, droughts), attributed to climate change, is causing stress to already vulnerable livelihoods by affecting both tangible and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) assets. There are limited studies that have established how the climate-induced disasters have impacted the ICH elements of food. As such, there is need to first establish the ICH elements or components of food and then how these ICH elements of food are being affected by climate change-induced disasters. This review was therefore aimed at identifying based on the literature the different ICH elements of food and how these can be affected by climate-induced disasters such as floods, cyclones, and droughts. This review paper shows that food is not only considered an ICH because of it being specific to a territory or ethnic group, but there are several dimensions or elements of food that makes it qualify as an ICH, which we grouped into six categories or domains. These domains of food as ICH are (i) food traditions and customs, (ii) food production, processing, and storage, (iii) dietary culture, (iv) eating and social practices, (v) culinary, and (vi) geographical indications. These ICH domains of food as ICH we created them based on the similarity of the different characteristics of the ICH elements are identified in the literature. This new insight is useful in assessing the impact of climate-induced natural disasters on intangible cultural heritage in food systems. More so, the identified categories of ICH elements of food can be viewed as constructs in a framework that can be used to assess the impact of climate-induced disasters on intangible cultural heritage in food systems and the ultimate impact on nutrition outcomes. Further research can be directed toward the development of a framework or tool to enable the assessment of the impact of climate-induced natural disasters on intangible cultural heritage in food systems.

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“…After milling the cereal, they are mixed with water and boiled for at least one hour to allow for gelatinization of starch, after which the mixture is allowed to cool. In the case of Munkoyo, Rhynchosia roots are added to provide the microbial inoculum and enzymes to degrade complex carbohydrates (Moonga et al, 2020a;Phiri, 2019). For Mahewu and Akpan, malted grains or flour are added as source of microbial inoculum and enzymes (Madode et al, 2005;Pswarayi and Gänzle, 2019).…”

Section: Traditional Fermentation: Value Addition and Entrepreneurial Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This even was the case when milk was used that had been rejected at milk collection centres due to low quality raw milk. Further, the shelf-life of traditional Mabisi is around one week without refrigeration (Moonga et al, 2020a). Since processing of many traditional fermented foods, including Munkoyo, Mahewu and Akpan, relies on similar fermentation properties with respect to microbial ecology, we expect similar levels of microbiological safety for these foods.…”

Section: Capitalizing On Value Addition To Raw Materials Through Traditional Fermentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some examples of industrially made fermented foods using undefined mixed microbial communities, such as sourdough breads made with mixed communities of wild yeasts (Carbonetto et al, 2018). Previous work on Mabisi showed that standardization of processing conditions and procedures results in uniform product properties, even when undefined microbial communities consisting at least 15 different bacterial species were used (Moonga et al, 2020a). Since other traditional foods rely on similar microbial consortia, this most likely also applies to other traditionally fermented foods.…”

Section: Capitalizing On Value Addition To Raw Materials Through Traditional Fermentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of traditional fermented foods to food systems transformation: value addition and inclusive entrepreneurship

et al. 2021

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To date, many efforts to eradicate hunger include increasing agricultural production, processing of raw materials and supplementation, and fortification of foods. Locally produced foods represent a significant part of Food Systems as they contribute to tackling hunger and malnutrition. However, few studies have investigated the processing of traditional fermented foods at household level as a means to improve nutrition and triggering inclusive entrepreneurship, two crucial dimensions Food Systems build on. Fermentation is an ancient processing technique that relies on transformation of raw materials by microbial activity and is mainly undertaken by women. This paper posits that upscaling small scale fermented food processing activities while enhancing functional food properties and fostering women entrepreneurship contributes to prevention of food losses, promotion of nutrition and health, and entrepreneurial opportunities for current processors. This is key for effective policy interventions to foster food security in challenging contexts.⨪.

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The Munkoyo Root: Traditional Uses, Biochemistry, Fermentation, and Potential Cultivation

Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications

Environmental Selection Shapes Bacterial Community Composition in Traditionally Fermented Maize-Based Foods from Benin, Tanzania and Zambia

Environmental Selection Shapes Bacterial Community Composition in Traditionally Fermented Maize-Based Foods from Benin, Tanzania and Zambia

Impact of climate change-induced natural disasters on intangible cultural heritage related to food: a review

Contribution of traditional fermented foods to food systems transformation: value addition and inclusive entrepreneurship

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