Previous articles in our magazine have already addressed the increasingly widespread health and nutrition trends. Above all, consumers' desire for a balanced diet and for new, health-promoting products play a role here. So-called superfoods are particularly popular in this context. Superfoods are foods that are high in nutrients and often low in unhealthy fats or calories. Some of the superfoods we featured included algae, avocados and goji berries, for example. And there is also a growing desire for little to no processed foods. This health trend is called "clean eating". Additionally, purely plant-based foods are also becoming more popular due to their health benefits and besides that, choosing a plant-based diet is the biggest contribution an individual can make to protect the climate. Plant-based foods are considerably more resource-efficient than animal products. Their production requires less water and emits significantly less CO2.

Our diet is crucial for both the physical as well as the mental health. Many consumers have already recognized this for themselves and it is difficult to imagine the food industry without the health trend any more. More and more food manufacturers are taking advantage of this trend and are producing products that meet the needs of this target group. Less processed, natural, certified organic as well as plant-based products without artificial additives but with high nutrient content are gaining more and more popularity. One of those approaches is fermentation of (plant-based) products, because it brings some great advantages.

There are some fermented products that we probably all know: Sauerkraut, black tea, beer, soy sauce or sourdough bread. And although fermentation is a very old method, it is still modern and worthy of attention. Because, in addition to shelf life, the fermentation process also shows some health and taste peculiarities, which will be explained in more detail later. Unlike products that have been highly heated for preservation, fermented products retain or develop many valuable nutrients that the body needs. The health benefits and the mostly low processing of fermented products make them a kind of superfood and thus increasingly move into the interest of society. Therefore, the food industry is also rediscovering this topic and trying to serve the needs and desires of consumers.

Taste: Furthermore, fermentation causes the products to develop special aromas and break down tannins, as in the production of tea or coffee. The resulting lactic acid gives the products a fresh sour taste. They also get a delicious umami note. If '' umami' doesn't ring a bell: the term originates from Japan and is a fifth flavor in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Just like the other four flavors, it is recognized by the taste receptors on our tongue. More precisely, umami denotes the taste of proteins or salts of the amino acid glutamate and acts as a natural flavor enhancer. Many would describe the flavor as spicy or savory. The flavor can vary from product to product because the biochemical process can vary with each fermentation.

Health: Fermented products also have many health benefits. The microorganisms produced during fermentation are especially good for our intestine. The probiotic cultures enter the intestines and settle in our intestinal flora, which illustrate a separate microorganism in our body in which about 100 trillion bacteria live. These not only help with digestion, but also produce vitamins and detoxify the body. Thus, they support and strengthen our immune system. The good bacteria drive out pathogenic bacteria, and the lactic acid bacteria (lactobacilli) from fermentation can support. The lactic acid bacteria can thus support the maintenance of a healthy intestinal flora in the long term and strengthen the barrier function of the intestinal mucosa.

As consumer awareness of the health benefits of fermented products continues to expand, the food industry is looking at incorporating these benefits into new product ideas and developing new processes to address a niche market.

We are all familiar with sauerkraut. It is one of the best known German national dishes and represents an important vitamin C supplier in winter. The Korean version of sauerkraut is called kimchi. Here, cabbage is often fermented together with other vegetables and spices. The Bavarian startup "completeorganics" wants to bring the well-tried and traditional method of fermenting vegetables to the people. It is the first German company with a fermentation factory. Their vegetables are full of living microbiomes, unpasteurized, minimally processed and without any additives. The vegetables used are organic and the final product is vegan. The vegetables are fermented naturally. In this process, the carbohydrates in the vegetables are converted into lactic acid by added bacteria in a biochemical process, which then serves as a natural preservative. In the future, the company would like to continue working on their recipes as well as the starter cultures to optimize the flavors. This will be done by using different bacteria that develop different flavors to achieve the best taste experience.

The interaction of spices and the fermentation can produce tastes reminiscent of animal products - for example, the taste of Parmesan cheese or smoked meat. Thus, many different tastes can be achieved.

Because tempeh is produced from plant-based ingredients, it produces 94% less CO2 emissions than beef, 78% less than pork, and 62% less than chicken. The aspect of sustainability is increasingly becoming a competitive tool. In Germany, the demand for meat substitutes has risen sharply, especially during the pandemic, and so has awareness of the need to reduce one's own meat consumption. In 2020, per head meat consumption dropped to a low of 57.3 kg. At the same time, some corporations have been able to achieve higher sales with their vegetarian or vegan products than with their animal products. Plant-based products are increasingly conquering the market.

The startup is also focusing on using side streams from food production for their fermentation process. Side streams are residual materials that are regularly produced during food production. These can be eggshells or bones, for example, but also peels, oils or pomace from fruit and vegetables. Kinoko Labs wants to upcycle these residual materials and thus establish a sustainable circular economy. The low-cost biomass will be used to feed the mushroom strains on which the 'meat' will grow and achieve exponential growth. The plan is to move production to where the side streams occur. The company's target audience are people who place value on plant-based, clean and minimally processed foods. The product can be used in the same way as meat.

By the way: it is already possible to recreate milk proteins using yeast organisms. This creates a synthetic form of milk that consists of the same building blocks, but does not contain milk and can be produced in a much more environmentally friendly way.

Fermentation is therefore an attractive and future-oriented solution for preserving food and achieving health and taste benefits. In the future, it will be possible for industry to use large fermenters for a modern process and ferment many different organic substances. In addition, side streams can be used for the processes to feed the fungal cultures. LEROMA would like to draw attention to these possibilities of valorization of residual materials, as well as preservation of food. Too much food is still wasted even at the beginning of the value chain, i.e. in agriculture and processing.