Microbes are commonly used for a variety of food production processes. Look around your house and discuss some of the products you use on a regular basis produced by microbes. Include a brief discussion on how the microbe actually is involved in the food production process.

hese are some examples of food products that can be produced with the help of microbes.

Cheese

Yogurt

Beer

Bread

Vinegar

Wine

Most of these products undergo a process of fermentation. Take for example, bread. Yeast works by serving as one of the leavening agents in the process of fermentation, which is essential in the making of bread. The purpose of any leavener is to produce the gas that makes bread rise. Yeast does this by feeding on the sugars in flour, and expelling carbon dioxide in the process. (Retrieved from: https://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/yeastbreadtip.htm)

Another example is the production of yogurt. The main (starter) cultures in yogurt are Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The function of the starter cultures is to ferment lactose (milk sugar) to produce lactic acid. The increase in lactic acid decreases pH and causes the milk to clot, or form the soft gel that is characteristic of yogurt. The fermentation of lactose also produces the flavor compounds that are characteristic of yogurt. Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are the only 2 cultures required by law (CFR) to be present in yogurt. (Retrieved from: http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Processing/Yogurt%20Production.htm)