Food Biotechnology Laboratory Course

Abstract

Students carry out processes for the production of fermented foods and bioingredients. Main experimental blocks: fermentation in state of the art bioreactors; microbial and metabolites analysis during fermented foods production.

Objective

To demonstrate the operation of complete fermentation processes for the production of selected fermented foods and bioingredients; running of small fermenters to understand the effects of important parameters of fermentation processes, including raw materials, and their control; to analyze the effects of defined fermentation conditions on the quality of final products; to scientifically present experimental approaches and data in a complete report.

Content

This laboratory course includes different experimental blocks: - Fermentation in state of the art bioreactors: preparation of equipment, media and starter culture, monitoring and control of the productive phase, analysis of samples for biomass and metabolic products, data interpretation and calculation of kinetics, comparison of different fermentation conditions; - Sourdough production: monitoring of bacterial and yeasts population during sourdough production by culture dependent and independent molecular methods, comparison of different fermentation conditions and analysis of the final products - Yoghurt production at small scale with different starter cultures, assaying the principle of biopreservation by using protective cultures against yeast and mould growth and microbial analysis of their efficacy during storage of the fermented products.

Resources