Food
microbiology is the study of micro-organism that inhabit, create or contaminate
food. However, bacteria are important in food science as the are essential for
the production of foods such as yoghurt, beer etc and fermented foods as bread.
It is also the study of food micro-organisms, how we can identify and culture
them, how they live, how some infect and cause disease and how we can make use
of their activities. They are also single cell organisms so tiny that millions
can fit into the eye of a needle. They are the oldest form of life on earth .
microbe fossils date back more than 3.5billion years to a tone when the earth
with oceans that regularly reached the boiling point.
Read Also: Role of Microbiology In Food Production
In food
microbiology you will learn about the detection and quantification of
pathogenic organisms how they survive in food processing environment how to
characterize those that are emerging. You will also discover microbiology of
health and wellness foods learn about quality control issues and much more. It
is a field that can include not only microbiology but also sanitation.
Food
microbiology can be broken down into three areas, first is food production.
Many foods and beverages, such as yoghurt, beer and wine are produced with the
help of microbiology as most people know that it can as well cause food
spoilage, the third area of food microbiology concerns the detection and
prevention of food borne diseases, some of the organisms involved in food
outbreaks are E. coli, staphylococcus aureaus, salmonelia ect.
More also, some
food additives and food supplements such as citric acid, and amino acid
respectively are produced industrially using microbes. They also produce
steroids, hormones, enzymes for detergents and emulsifiers.
SOME ASPECT OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY
1.
Microbiology
of food fermentation.
2.
Predictive
microbiology
3.
microbiological
aspects of food safety.
4.
microbiological
aspects of food spoilage and quality.
RELEVANCE OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY
1.
Food
microbiology in food processing: Every food may be contaminated from outside
resources on the way from the field to the processing plant or during storage
and distribution. There are thousands of micro-organisms in air, soil, and
water and consequently on foods. Fortunately the majority of micro-organisms
performs useful functions in the environment and also in some branches of food
processing e.g.
a.
Production
of wine
b.
Production
of beer
c.
Production
of bakery product.
d.
In
dairy product.
e.
In
ripening of food fruits.
f.
In
drug production as probiotic and prebiotic are use in micro encapsulation in
alginate-chitosan capsule which improves survival in stimulated
gastrointestinal conditions.
Read Also: Role of Microbiology In Food Production