Fermentation is one of if not the oldest food processing technique, yet it is still an emerging field when it comes to its numerous mechanisms of action and potential applications. The effect of microbial activity on the taste, bioavailability and preservation of the nutrients and the different food matrices has been deciphered by the insights of molecular microbiology. Among those roles of fermentation in the food chain, biopreservation remains the one most debated. Presumably because it has been underestimated for quite a while, and only considered – based on a food safety and technological approach – from the toxicological and chemical perspective. Biopreservation is not considered as a traditional use, where it has been by design – but forgotten – as the initial goal of fermentation. The ‘modern’ use of biopreservation is also slightly different from the traditional use, due mainly to changes in cooling of food and other ways of preservation, Extending shelf life is considered to be one of the properties of food additives, classifying – from our perspective – biopreservation wrongly and forgetting the role of fermentation and food cultures. The present review will summarize the current approaches of fermentation as a way to preserve and protect the food, considering the different way in which food cultures and this application could help tackle food waste as an additional control measure to ensure the safety of the food.

中文翻译：

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饮食文化被遗忘的作用

发酵即使不是最古老的食品加工技术，也是其中之一，但就其众多的作用机制和潜在应用而言，它仍然是一个新兴领域。微生物活性对营养物质和不同食品基质的味道、生物利用度和保存的影响已通过分子微生物学的见解得以解释。在发酵在食物链中的这些作用中，生物保存仍然是最受争议的一个。大概是因为它在相当长一段时间内被低估了，并且仅基于食品安全和技术方法从毒理学和化学角度进行考虑。生物保存不被视为传统用途，它是发酵的最初目标，但被设计为这一用途。生物保存的“现代”用途也与传统用途略有不同，主要是由于食品冷却和其他保存方式的变化，延长保质期被认为是食品添加剂的特性之一，分类 - 从我们的角度来看– 错误地进行生物保存，忘记了发酵和饮食文化的作用。本综述将总结当前发酵方法作为保存和保护食品的一种方法，考虑食品文化和该应用可以帮助解决食物浪费的不同方式，作为确保食品安全的额外控制措施。