Microbes and food. Microbial food ingredients.

	3.4 Microbial food ingredients
		Many food ingredients are made by large scale fermentations of microbes. These include flavourings, thickeners, stabilisers and enzymes. Some of these are shown in the following list:

Product	Microbe	Use(s)
Amino acids: Glutamic acid Lysine & methionine Phenylalanine & aspartic acid	Corynebacterium glutamicum Brevibacterium flavum A commercial secret!	Flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate Cereal food supplement Ingredients of the artificial sweetener aspartame (Nutrasweet®)
Citric acid	Aspergillus niger	Flavouring, antioxidant, pH adjuster, emulsifier
Enzymes: a-amylase b-amylase Cellulase Invertase Lactase Oxidases Lipase Pectinase Proteases Rennin (chymosin)	Aspergillus spp. Bacillus subtilis Trichoderma viride Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces fragilis Aspergillus niger Aspergillus niger Aspergillus niger Aspergillus oryzae Mucor, E. coli	Laundry detergent Brewing Fruit juices, coffee, paper Sweet manufacture Digestive aid, sweet manufacture Paper & fabric bleaching Washing powders, leather tanning, cheese production Fruit juice Meat tenderiser, leather tanning Cheese production
Vitamins: Vitamin B12 Riboflavin Vitamin C	Pseudomonas spp Ashbya gossypii Acetobacter spp.	Health supplement Health supplement Health supplement

Food for the future

In the future, microbes will be needed even more to help feed the increasing population of the world.

They could be used to develop DNA technology that:

protects food crops – biological pesticides can be used to protect vegetables and fruit when chemical measures no longer work
improve the nutritional quality of foods in developing countries.

However GM foods are a controversial issue at present and public concerns have halted many research programmes in this area.

Take a look at the NCBE GM food guide for more information.