FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY

 Why not visible to naked eye?
Size of bacteria – 5-10μm
Yeast – 3-4 μm
Mold – 3-40 μm

Human eye – smallest to see – 0.1mm

 3 areas
• Beneficial - use – examples – fermented, probiotics, biocontrol
• Spoilage – prevent – examples – Salmonella, Listeria - food defects, decay – preservation – nanotechnology
• Pathogens – kill – food borne illness

Why study them?

To have control over them, in all areas

Microorganisms

• Bacteria - Prokaryotes (cells without nuclei) Omnipresent

• Fungus – Yeast and Mold Nos exceed all population
• Viruses First living cell 3 B yrs ago
• Algae - Eukaryotes (cells with nuclei)
• Protozoans
 Evolution of
Microbiology
Discovery era Transition era Golden era Modern era

Abiogenesis Biogenesis Industrial Germ theory of disease

1. Aristotle 1. Schulze 1. Louis Pasteur
2. Herodotus 2. Schwann 1. Joseph Lister
3. Van Helmont 3. Louis Pasteur 2. John Tyndall
4. Leeuween Hoek 3. Edward Jenner
1. Fermentation
5. Robert Hoek 4. Robert Koch
2. Pasteurization
6. Fransisco Redi
3. Disinfection
7. John Needham
4. Vaccines
8. Spallanzani
 Aristotle & Jan Baptist van Helmont Francesco Redi

John Needham >

lazzaro spallanzani>
 LOUIS PASTEUR’S SWAN NECK EXPERIMENT

Widely accepted theory for disproving Abiogenesis

 Robert Koch
SEMMELWEIS AND
Antiseptic Procedures Germ Theory Disease
JOSEPH LISTER

The Father of Immunology,

Edward Jenner Vaccine for small pox

Ferdinand Cohn Endospores

Louis Pasteur Rabies vaccine

Hans and Zacharias Janssen 1st Compound Microscope

Leeuwenhoek 1st to see “animalicules”

Robert Hook 1st to observe cell under Microscope

• Lavoisier – showed need of oxygen for life.
• Believers of abiogenesis, rejected Spallanzani’s theory saying there was not oxygen
for growth.
• To check the need of air,
• Schulze – passed air through acid
• Schwann – passed air through red hot tubes boiled meat fusion - did not
show growth
• Schroeder – passed air through cotton
 Nomenclature given by ICNB,
published by ICSB of the IUMA
• Binomial name. Genus species
• Both parts latinized or underlined, only first letter of the genus being capital. (Lactobacillus acidophilus)
• When divided into subspecies, a trinomial epithet is used ssp. (subspecific). (Lactobacillus lactis ssp.
Lactis)
• In some cases, under subspecies, they are identified with specific characters. (Lactobacillus lactis ssp
lactis biovar diacetylactics – diacetyl producing)
• Some identified with specific strain number, may be alphabetic/numeric or both. (Listeria
monocytogenes ATCC 19116)
• At family level, plural form – “acheae” Enterobacteriaceae
• The species and genus can be collectively represented using spp. after genus (Lactobacillus spp.)
• Plural form of a genus is not in italics – Lactobacilli
• L. monocytogenes, Lc. lactis, Lac. lactis

ICNB - International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria

ICSB – International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology
IUMA – International Union of Microbiological Association
 General Classification of Living
things
The formal system of organizing, classifying and naming living things is called taxonomy (Gr. Taxis = arrangement +
nomas = name). The primary goals of taxonomy are classification, nomenclature and identification.

Carl Ernst R.H

Linnaeus Haeckel Whittaker
Monera
Plantae
Plantae
Protista
Animalia Fungi
Plantae
Animalia
Protista
Animalia
Importance of Microorganisms in Food
Industry
1. Fermentation
2. Food Spoilage
3. In water treatment
4. Source of energy
5. In science – Biotechnology, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology
6. In warfare
7. Human health
8. Disease and immunology
9. Ecology
10. Industrial Microbiology
• Enzymes
• Polysaccharides
• Nutrients
• SCP
• Chemotherapeutic agents
• Insecticides and leaching agents
IN FOOD PRODUCTION
• Fermented milk products: Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Bifidobacterium
• A variety of foods including Indian dosa, rabri: fermentation by Leuconostoc mesenteroides, S. faecalis
• Probiotics: are live food supplements used in yoghurt and other fermented milk products. It

Bacteria in food includes Lactobacillus acidophillus and Bifidobacterium bifidum. A minimum of 108 bacteria per 1 ml
must get to the colon alive to have any significant effect. These bacteria improve the microbial spectrum in
the gut and thus contribute to the following effects:

production • Influence immunity and hence prevent or make diarrheal diseases milder
• Decrease the risk of colon cancer
• Decrease cholesterol absorption
• Produce acids that decrease the pH in the gut and thus increase the absorption of minerals such as calcium
and phosphorous.

• Leavened bread and bakery products: Saccharomyces cervisiae ferments sugars to produce CO2, the gas that

Yeast in food gives the porous structure of bakery products. It also contributes to the flavor by formation of alchols,
aldehydes, esters etc.
• Beer

production • Wine
• Vinegar
• Pickles

Mold in food
• Cheese: Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium camemberti (note that this one produces mycotoxin at 25°C,
therefore the cheese production must happen at 15°C)
• Dry salami: makes the use of Penicillium and Scopulariopis moulds.

production
• Soy sauce: Aspergillus spp, especially A. oryzae, are involved in this production. There is also a subsequent
lactic fermentation where lactic bacteria produce lactic acid.
• Sake: is produced using a combination of the mold Aspergillus oryzae and yeast.
General Classification of
Microorganisms
1. Prions
2. Bacteria
3. Yeast
4. Mold
5. Viruses
6. Algae
 1. Monera
(a) Cell is prokaryotic.
(b) DNA lack histone protein.
(c) They lack sexual reproduction.
(d) Cell wall lack cellulose but contain
polysaccharide/polypeptide called murein.
(e) Flagella lack 9 + 2 arrangement.
(f) Bacteria have anaerobic photosyntheis.
Ex : Bacteria, blue-green algae.
2. Protista
(a) Cell is unicellular and eukaryotic.
(b) DNA with histone protein.
(c) Flagella with 9 + 2 arrangement.
(d) Autotrophic mode of nutrition
(e) Absorb or intake food by absorption or
ingestion. Ex : Protozoa and unicellular
algae.
3. Myceteae
(a) Cell with cell wall.
(b) Lack chloroplast / chlorophyll.
(c) They have heterotrophic mode of
nutrition. (d) Vegetative thallus is
mycelium.

4. Plantae 5. Animalia:
(a) Organism are multicellular eukaryotic. (a) Multicellular.
(b) Organism lack movement. (b) Cell is eukaryotic.
(c) Cell wall of cellulose. Ex: Algae (c) Cell lack cell wall.
(Rhodophyta, Phaeophyta, Chlorophyta), (d) Heterotrophic mode of nutrition, lack
Bryophyta, Fern, Gymnosperm and photosynthesis.
Angiosperm. ex. Animals