Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- List of contributors -- Chapter 1 Lactic acid bacteria as starter cultures -- Introduction -- General aspects of starter cultures -- Types of starter cultures -- Traditional starters: Natural starters -- Traditional starters: Mixed-strain starters (MSS) -- Defined strain starters (DSS) -- Metabolism of lactic acid bacteria -- Lactose metabolism -- Citrate metabolism -- Nitrogen metabolism -- Lipases and esterases -- Bacteriocins production -- Exopolysaccharide production -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 2 Yeasts as starter cultures -- Yeasts as starter cultures: General considerations -- Yeasts as starter cultures in winemaking -- Starter cultures of S. cerevisiae -- Mixed starters for co-fermentations -- Yeasts as starter cultures in brewing -- Yeasts as starter cultures in bakery products -- Yeasts as starter cultures in dairy products -- Cheese -- Whey -- Fermented milk -- Yeasts as starter cultures in fermented meat products -- Yeasts as starter cultures in miscellaneous fermented foods and beverages -- Fermented olives -- Cocoa -- Coffee -- Fermented fruit and vegetables -- Yeasts as starter cultures in worldwide ethnic fermented foods and beverages -- Fermented foods and beverages from Africa and Asia -- Fermented foods and beverages from South America -- Yeasts as biocontrol agents in foods and beverages -- Worldwide collections conserving yeast starter cultures -- Conclusion and future outcomes -- References -- Chapter 3 Fungal starters: An insight into the factors affecting the germination of conidia -- Definitions -- Modelling of germination kinetics -- The Gompertz equation -- The logistic model -- The asymmetric model -- Factors that affect germination parameters -- Spore density -- Environmental factors -- Physiological state -- Transients.

Conclusion: Applications of these results to fungal starters -- References -- Chapter 4 Non-starter bacteria 'functional' cultures -- Functional cultures -- Propionibacterium genus -- Corynebacterium and related genera -- Bifidobacterium genus -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter 5 Industrial production of starter cultures -- Production process -- Quality control -- Preparation of inoculum culture -- Selection of starter strain(s) -- Defined or undefined cultures -- Strain engineering -- Formulation and preparation of media -- Nutrient supplementation -- Role of medium in cell survival and functionality -- Propagation of cells in a bioreactor -- Process control -- Harvesting and concentration -- Centrifugation -- Filtration -- Preservation -- Drying techniques -- Freezing -- Starter culture market -- Current market -- Aspects of future markets -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 6 Safety evaluation of starter cultures -- Food safety, starter cultures and the need for an integrated perspective -- The US regulatory framework: Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status -- The European regulatory framework: The qualified presumption of safety (QPS) concept -- Starter cultures, scientific framework, position papers and regulatory environment -- Starter cultures, microbial contaminants and safety aspects -- Starter culture design for enhanced safety -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 7 Management of waste from the food industry: A new focus on the concept of starter cultures -- Bioremediation and the starter concept -- Dairy waste management: Potential use for whey beverage production -- Whey-based fermented beverages -- Animal-origin wastewaters -- Treatment of slaughterhouse wastes and the microorganisms involved -- Physical parameters of a digester -- Post-treated waste utilization -- Bioremediation of olive mill wastewaters.

Use of microorganisms for OMW detoxification -- Appendix 7.1 Typology of digesters -- Appendix 7.2 Kinetic microbial growth -- References -- Chapter 8 A new frontier for starter cultures: Attenuation and modulation of metabolic and technological performance -- Attenuation by heat treatment -- Attenuation by freezing-thawing -- Spray and freeze drying -- Attenuation by high pressure and high‐pressure homogenization -- Attenuation by microfluidization -- Attenuation by sonication -- Lysozyme treatment -- Attenuation by treatment with various solvents -- Lactose-negative mutants as attenuated starters -- References -- Chapter 9 The role of the pangenome concept in selecting new starter cultures -- Use of the pangenome approach to select starter cultures -- Tools and software to study the microbial pangenome -- References -- Chapter 10 Commercial starters or autochtonous strains? That is the question -- Application of selected wild strains in food: Some case studies -- Meat and fish products -- Dairy products -- Fermented vegetables -- Fermented beverages -- Sourdough and fermented cereals -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 11 Sourdough and cereal‐based foods: Traditional and innovative products -- Cereals used in fermented food production -- Technological properties of cereal flours -- Cereal microflora -- Cereal fermentation -- Cereal-based fermented products -- Bread -- Sourdough -- Sourdough microorganisms -- Yeasts -- Lactic acid bacteria -- Starter selection for sourdough production -- Fortified fermented cereal-based products -- Gluten-free cereals -- Gluten-free fermented products -- Microbial strategies to reduce gluten content -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 12 The role of starter cultures and spontaneous fermentation in traditional and innovative beer production -- Batch brewing process -- Batch fermentation -- Flavour formation.

Continuous brewing process -- Continuous fermentation -- Flavour formation -- High and very high gravity fermentation -- Brewer's yeast in action -- Specialty and traditional beers -- Bottle refermentation -- Bioflavouring -- Acceleration of maturation -- Low-alcohol and alcohol‐free beers -- Low-carb, light or diet beers -- References -- Chapter 13 Wine microbiology -- Alcoholic fermentation -- Spontaneous fermentation -- Inoculated fermentation -- Criteria for the selection of yeast starter -- Technological or conventional traits -- Metabolic or non-'conventional' traits -- Properties associated with the commercial production of wine yeasts -- Novel traits -- New wine yeasts -- Improvement of  S. cerevisiae  wine yeast strains -- Mixed-starter cultures -- Malolactic fermentation -- Spontaneous malolactic fermentation -- Inoculated malolactic fermentation -- Selection criteria for malolactic bacteria -- References -- Chapter 14 Starter cultures in vegetables with special emphasis on table olives -- Fermented vegetables -- Table olives -- Application of starter cultures to table olive fermentation -- New challenges for the development of starter cultures in table olives and vegetables in general -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter 15 New trends in dairy microbiology: Towards safe and healthy products -- Biopreservation: Bacteriocins and bacteriophages -- Bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria -- Bacteriophages -- Healthy products: Probiotics and prebiotics -- Probiotics -- Prebiotics -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter 16 Sausages and other fermented meat products -- Starter cultures for fermented meat products -- Role of starter culture in the flavour, texture and colour formation of fermented meat products -- Flavour formation -- Texture formation -- Colour formation.

Biopreservation of fermented meat products by starter cultures -- Utilization of bacteriocinogenic LAB as meat starter cultures to control pathogenic bacteria -- Inhibition of mycotoxinogenic moulds -- Production of bioactive peptides by starter culture in fermented meat products -- Potential use of starter cultures to improve the healthiness of meat products -- Proteolytic systems during meat processing -- Potential bioactivity of peptides released during meat fermentation -- Probiotic starter cultures for fermented meat products -- Criteria for the selection of probiotic cultures for meat products -- Health-promoting effects associated with the consumption of probiotic meat products -- Genetics and biotechnology of starter cultures used in fermented meat products -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 17 Fermentation of fish-based products: A special focus on traditional Japanese products -- Salted and fermented fish products -- Fish sauce -- Shiokara: Salted and fermented fish with their guts -- Fish nukazuke -- Narezushi -- Japanese narezushi culture -- Narezushi made in Noto -- Kaburazushi and daikonzushi (izushi-type products) -- Health functionality of lactic acid-fermented fish foods -- Functions of fermented fish products -- Isolation of lactic acid bacteria from fish products and their environment -- References -- Chapter 18 Traditional alkaline fermented foods: : Selection of functional Bacillus starter cultures for soumbala production -- Selection of multifunctional Bacillus starter cultures for soumbala production -- Identification of microorganisms -- Screening the proteolytic activity of the Bacillus isolates -- Screening the lipolytic activity of the Bacillus isolates -- Screening the ability of the Bacillus isolates to degrade carbohydrates -- Screening the antimicrobial activity of the Bacillus isolates.

Screening the tolerance of the Bacillus isolates to bile and acid.