Precision fermentation for producing food ingredients

Abstract

Fermentation has been crucial in human history, evolving in meaning with advances in biotechnology. Advancements in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering have led to the emergence of precision fermentation, which involves using metabolically engineered microbes to produce functional ingredients from simple carbon sources under precisely controlled conditions. These technologies have the potential to develop sustainable platforms for producing food ingredients, which could help address food crisis issues. This review discusses how systems metabolic engineering can be applied to precision fermentation-based production of food ingredients in microbial hosts, with a particular focus on the production of flavoring and coloring agents. Additionally, the development of optimal downstream processing techniques for each product category is also examined.