Microbial Production of Secondary Metabolites as Food Ingredients

Pigments, antibiotics, alkaloids, toxins, carotenoids, and gibberellins are microbial products whose synthesis is inhibited during the logarithmic growth of microbes and repressed during the stationary growth phase. Bacteria, yeast, filamentous fungi, and microalgae produce an extensive range of bioproducts, which exhibit antibiotic, antitumor, and cholesterol-lowering properties. The demand for natural food ingredients is increasing exponentially as society becomes more health conscious. This has drawn the attention of researchers toward microbial strains and their efficiency to produce natural and safe bioproducts. This chapter explores the microbial biosynthesis of natural products, such as lovastatin and gamma-aminobutyric acid and the production of food coloring, antimicrobial, and anticancer agents. Production of enzymes, such as beta-glucosidase and amylase, organic acids, probiotic cells, and bacteriocins for use in foods, nutraceuticals, and medications will also be discussed. This chapter will also discuss the production of these bioproducts and their scale-up production for industrial purposes. Known producers, along with newly identified strains, and their efficiency to produce these products is also explored with a focus on their safe consumption.