Reference Number: 506
Year: 2020
Link: Link to original paper
Health: Antimicrobial | Gut Microbiome - Creating Healthier Bread to Support Optimal Gut Health
Nutrition: Postbiotic | Prebiotic | Probiotic
Lactic Acid Bacteria: Prevalence
Summary
There are many critical challenges in the use of primary and secondary cultures and their biological compounds in food commodities. An alternative is the application of postbiotics from the starter and protective lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The concept of postbiotics is relatively new and there is still not a recognized definition for this term. The word “postbiotics” is currently used to refer to bioactive compounds, which did not fit to the traditional definitions of probiotics, prebiotics, and paraprobiotics. Therefore, the postbiotics may be presently defined as bioactive soluble factors (products or metabolic byproducts), produced by some food-grade microorganisms during the growth and fermentation in complex microbiological culture (in this case named cell-free supernatant), food, or gut, which exert some benefits to the food or the consumer. Many LAB are considered probiotic and their postbiotic compounds present similar or additional health benefits to the consumer; however, this review aimed to address the most recent applications of the postbiotics with food safety purposes. The potential applications of postbiotics in food biopreservation, food packaging, and biofilm control were reviewed. The current uses of postbiotics in the reduction and biodegradation of some food safety-related chemical contaminants (e.g., biogenic amines) were considered. We also discussed the safety aspects, the obstacles, and future perspectives of using postbiotics in the food industry. This work will open up new insights for food applications of postbiotics prepared from LAB.
Significance of this study to the baker:
This study is a good introduction to the novel ‘postbiotics’ and how they may not only benefit our health but also can be used in food safety too. Postbiotics are essentially the waste of probiotic microbes such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yet we don’t want to be disregarding this waste. An example of a postbiotic is a short chain fatty acid however, further postbiotics include vitamins, enzymes and complex agents. This is a new concept so we still have a lot to learn although it seems to be clear that these by-products from the fermentation of bacteria can not only be used to preserve our food, but also support our overall health.
