World Journal of Food Science and Technology 2018; 2(1): 19-24 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/wjfst doi: 10.11648/j.wjfst.20180201.13 A Review on Food Fermentation and the Biotechnology of Lactic Acid Bacteria Mesele Admassie Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Email address: To cite this article: Mesele Admassie. A Review on Food Fermentation and the Biotechnology of Lactic Acid Bacteria. World Journal of Food Science and Technology. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2018, pp. 19-24. doi: 10.11648/j.wjfst.20180201.13 Received: March 23, 2018; Accepted: April 16, 2018; Published: May 19, 2018 Abstract: Fermented foods are among the first processed food products consumed since the development of human civilizations. Food fermentation processes can be categorized by the primary metabolites and microorganisms involved. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a large group of closely related bacteria that have similar properties such as lactic acid production, which is an end product of the fermentation. Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products, or any technological applications that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the fields of bioengineering and biomedical engineering. Some of the applications were identified in this paper to include biotechnology in food fermentation to enhance properties such as the taste, aroma, shelf-life, texture and nutritional value of food. When used regularly, LAB fermented foods boost the immune system and strengthen the body in the fight against pathogenic bacterial infections, bacteriocins produced by LAB may become a potential drug candidate for replacing antibiotics in order to treat multiple drugs resistance pathogens in the future. The modern extension of food/feed fermentation technology consists of processes designed to obtain particular compounds using microbial metabolism as the chemical machinery. Thus, LAB fermentation is not only of a major economic importance, and the starting food materials, but it also promotes human health and increase food/feed production in the world. Keywords: Lactic Acid Bacteria, Fermentation, Pathogenic, Bacteriocins 1. Introduction Fermented foods are staples of the human diet and have been produced and consumed since the development of human civilizations [1]. The process whereby microorganisms and their enzymes bring about these desirable changes in food materials is known as fermentation. Food fermentation processes can be categorized by the primary metabolites and microorganisms involved:lactic acid bacteria (LAB) belonging to genera such as Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus. Fermentations can also be described based on the food substrates, which include meats and fish, dairy, vegetables, soy beans and other legumes, cereals, starchy roots, and grapes and other fruits. Raw materials that contain high concentrations of monosaccharide’s and disaccharides, or in some cases starch, are fermented by lactic acid bacteria [1]. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a group of gram-positive, non-sporulating, anaerobic or facultative aerobic cocci or rods, fastidious on artificial media, but they grow readily in most food substrates and lower the pH rapidly to a point where competing organism are no longer able to grow, and it is one of the main fermentation products of the metabolism of carbohydrates [2]. Biotechnology is defined as any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or processes for specific use Biotechnology as applied to food processing in most developing countries makes use of microbial inoculants to enhance properties such as the taste, aroma, shelf-life, texture and nutritional value of foods [3]. Spontaneous fermentation may fail, because it is not possible to ensure the same quality of the end product. However, spontaneously fermented products represent a source of LAB with potential interesting functional and technological properties, and the choice of the starter cultures has a critical impact on the palatability, processability,