Applied and Industrial

Microbiology
Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the course:
BIOL360: General Microbiology
Group 8
Winston Swaby 24100029
Karene Benjamin 18101051

Biofuel
s
Food
Produc
tion

Food
Preserv
ation
and
packagi
ng

Applied
and
Industri
al
Microbi
ology

Ferment
ation
Technol
ogy

Alterna
tive
Energy

Industr
ial
Produc
ts

Applied
Microbiology
Use of microbes in their natural
environment to perform processes
useful to humankind such as in food
processing.

Food Microbiology

Foods and Diseases

There

is an increase in the likelihood that foods might be

a source of widespread disease outbreak as a consequence

of the centralized processing and production of foods that
are widely distributed.
Local

agencies whose role is to inspect dairies and

restaurants have been established.

The

FDA and USDA in USA also maintain a system of

inspectors at ports and central processing location

Industrial Food Canning

Heat

must be adequate to kill spoilage organisms and

pathogens without degrading the appearance and

palatability of food.
Industrially

canned goods undergo commercial

sterilization.
This

is done by steam under pressure in a large retort.

Much like autoclaving

Commercial Canning Retorts

The Commercial Sterilization Process

in Industrial Canning

 The

aim of commercial sterilization is to kill Clostridium

botulinum which causes botulism.

Thermophillic
These

microbes survive commercial sterilization.

microbes do not grow at temperatures below 45 oC;

so, they usually do not cause spoilage at normal

temperatures.

The Construction of a Metal

Can

Canned Food Spoilage

Under

circumstances where the canned foods are

incubated at high temperatures thermophilic microbes can

grow and cause spoilage.
Mesophiles

can cause spoilage in canned foods if it is

under-processed or if the can leaks.

Types of Spoilage in Canned Foods

Thermophilic

Anaerobic Spoilage Swollen can, lowered

pH and sour odour. Usually caused by

Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum.
Flat

Sour Spoilage No swelling, lowered pH, sour and

turns cloudy. Usually caused by Geobacillus

stearothermophilus.
Putrefactive

anaerobic Swollen can, putrid odour, may be

partially digested and pH slightly above normal.

Aseptic Packaging
Used

on materials that cannot tolerate heat such as plastics

or laminated paper.
Sterilized

using hot hydrogen peroxide solution sometimes

in association with UV light.

High

energy electron beams can also used be used.

Radiation Use in Preservation

Inhibits

DNA synthesis and prevents microbes, insects, and

plants from reproducing.

X

rays or the gamma rays produced by radioactive cobalt-

60 are most used.

Up

to certain energy levels, high energy electrons produced

by electron accelerators are also used.

Result

is inactivation of the target organisms without

inducing radioactivity in the food or packaging material.

A Gamma Ray Irradiation Facility

International Radura Symbol

Electron Beam Accelerator

Pascalation
More

accurately known as High Pressure Food

Preservation.
Pre-wrapped

foods such as fruits, deli meats, and precooked

chicken strips are submerged into tanks of pressurized

water.
Pressure
Kills

as high as 87,000psi is reached.

bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria and pathogenic

strains of Escherichia coli by disrupting cellular functions.

 It

also kills non-pathogenic microorganisms that tend to

shorten the shelf life of the foods preserved by it.

Since

the process does not require additives it does not

need regulatory approvals.

It

has the advantage of preserving colors and tastes of

foods better than many other methods and does not

provoke the concerns of irradiation.

Role of Microbes in Food

Production

Foods that Use Microbes in their

Production and Processing
Cheese

Pickles

Butter

Olives

Butter

Milk

Cocoa

Yogurt

Beer

Kefir

Vinegar

Kumis

Sake

Sauerkraut

Wine

Dairy Products

Cheese
The

curd used in cheese production is formed from the

action of the enzyme rennin.

The

acidic conditions needed by the enzyme for it to work

is provided by lactic acid forming bacteria.

These bacteria also give the characteristic flavours and

aromas of fermented dairy products during the ripening
process.

 The

holes in Swiss cheese is as a result of the carbon

dioxide produced by a Propionibacterium species.

Semisoft

cheeses, such as Limburger, are ripened by

bacteria and other contaminating organisms growing on the

surface.

Blue

and Roquefort cheeses are ripened by Penicillium

molds inoculated into the cheese.

Butter and Butter Milk

Butter

is made by churning cream until the fatty globules

of butter separate from the liquid.

The

liquid is called buttermilk.

The

classic flavor and aroma of these foods are from

diacetyls, a combination of two acetic acid molecules.

It

is a metabolic end-product of fermentation by some

lactic acid bacteria.

Yogurt
The

milk from which commercial yogurt is made one-fourth

less water and thus it is thickened.

The

resulting thickened milk is inoculated with a mixed

culture of Streptococcus thermophilus, chiefly for acid

production, and Lactobacillus delbrueckii bulgaricus, for
flavor and aroma.
Striking

a balance between these two bacteria will

determine how the yogurt taste.

Non-Dairy Products

Bread
The

sugars in bread dough are fermented by yeasts.

The

species of yeast used in baking is Saccharomyces

cerevisiae.
The

tart flavour of breads such as rye or sourdough is as a

result of lactic acid bacteria growing in the dough.

Alcoholic Beverages

Microbes take part in the production and processing of almost

all alcoholic beverages.

Beer and ale are products of grain starches fermented by yeast.

The yeast in beer fermentation remains on the bottom (bottom

yeasts) and the fermentation process is slow.

On the other hand ale is fermented relatively rapidly, at a

higher temperature, with yeast strains that usually form clumps
that are buoyed to the top by CO2 (top yeasts).

 During

malting grains containing starch are allowed to

sprout then dried and ground.

The

resulting product which is called malt contains

amylases that convert cereal starches into carbohydrates

that can be fermented by yeasts.
In

light beer production either amylases or selected strains

of yeasts are used to convert more of the starch to glucose

and maltose.
The

result is less carbohydrates and more alcohol

Wine Making
Yeast

cannot directly use starch for fermentation.

However,

in wine production fruits such as grapes that

have sugars that can be directly fermented are used.

Therefore,
When

malting is unnecessary.

grapes have high concentrations of malic acid lactic

acid bacteria are used to convert it to lactic acid.

The

process is called Malolactic Fermentation

Wine Production Process

Vinegar Production
Carbohydrates

are first anaerobically fermented by yeasts

to produce ethanol.
The

ethanol is the aerobically oxidized by acetic acid

producing bacteria of the genera Acetobacter and

Gluconobacter to acetic acid.

Industrial
Microbiology
This also involves the use of
microorganisms to achieve specific goals.
However, it generally focuses on products
such as pharmaceutical, medical
compounds and biofuels that have
economic value.

Fermentation
Technology

Industrial Fermentation
This

is the large scale cultivation of microbes or other

single cells to produce a commercially valuable substance.

Vessels

used are called bioreactors.

Aeration,

pH control, and temperature control are vital

components of their design.

The

process is used in biotechnology to obtain useful

products from genetically modified plant and animal cells.

 Microbes

in industrial fermentation either produces

primary metabolites or secondary metabolites.

Primary

metabolites are formed at the same time as the

new cells. For example, ethanol.

Secondary

metabolites are not produced until the cell has

essentially completed its logarithmic growth phase and

enters the death phase of the cycle. For example,
penicillin.
The

end of the logarithmic growth phase is called the

trophophase.

 Metabolomics

is the use of the chemical fingerprints left

by the microbes of their cellular metabolism to study

cellular process involving metabolites.
Strains

development and improvement is an ongoing

process.
A microbial

strain differs physiologically in some

significant way.

Immobilized Enzymes
Industries

are increasing their use of free enzymes isolated

from microbes to manufacture many products, such as

high-fructose syrups, paper, and textiles.
The

demand for such enzymes is high because they are

specific and do not produce costly or toxic waste products.

Unlike

traditional chemical processes that require heat or

acids, enzymes work under moderate conditions and are

safe and biodegradable.

Industrial Products

Amino Acids
Amino

acids such as lysine and methionine cannot be

synthesized by animals and are present only at low levels in

the normal diet.
Therefore,

lysine and some other essential amino acids are

commercially prepared and placed in cereals and food

supplements.
Aspartic

acid and phenylalanine are important amino acids

used in the sugar free sweetener aspartame.

Citric Acid
Citric
It

acid gives tartness and flavor to foods.

is an antioxidant and pH adjuster in many foods, and in

dairy products it often serves as an emulsifier.

As

a result of these important functions Over 1.6 million

tons of citric acid are produced every year worldwide.

The

most being produced by by a mold, Aspergillus niger,

with molasses used as a substrate.

Enzymes
Widely

used in different industries. For example:

Amylase

used in to break down starch to sugars that yeast

can ferment.
Glucose

isomerase - it converts the glucose that amylases

form from starches into fructose, which is used in place of

sucrose as a sweetener in many foods.
Rennin

cheese.

used to form the curd which is the precursor to

Vitamins

Microbes can provide an inexpensive source of some vitamins.

Vitamin B12 is produced by Pseudomonas and

Propionibacterium species.

Riboflavin (B2 ) is produced by fermentation, mostly by fungi

such as Ashbya gossypii.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is produced at the rate of 60,000 tons

per year by a complicated modification of glucose by
Acetobacter species.

Pharmaceuticals
Many
The

antibiotics are produced by microbial fermentations.

production of vaccines against bacterial diseases

usually requires the growth of large amounts of the bacteria.

Microorganisms

can synthesize steroids from sterols or

from related, easily obtained compounds.

Copper Extraction by Leaching

Thiobacillus

ferrooxidans is used in recovering otherwise

unprofitable grades of copper ore, which sometimes contain

as little as 0.1% copper.
At

least 25% of the worlds copper is produced this way.

This

process, although very time consuming, is economical

and can recover as much as 70% of the copper in the ore.

Biological Leaching of
Copper Ores

Alternative Energy
Sources

 Biomass

is the collective organic matter produced by living

organisms, including crops, trees, and municipal wastes.

Microbes

can be employed to convert biomass into

alternative energy sources through a process called

bioconversion.
Bioconversion

can also decrease the amount of waste

materials requiring disposal.

Many

communities produce useful amounts of methane

from wastes in landfill sites.

Methane Production from Solid Waste in

Biofuels
The

answer to the very expensive and sometimes uncertain

fossil petroleum-based fuels.

E10

Ethanol 10% is where initial interests in biofuels

were placed.
About

a third of Brazils transportation fuel is ethanol.

Jamaica also uses E10.

In

the USA E85 (ethanol 85%) is also used.

The limitations of ethanol which include:

Ethanol having 30% less energy than gasoline.

Not being able to be transported by conventional pipelines

(because it absorbs water so avidly).

The pressure it creates on the supply and price of valuable

food stuff that is used in its production.

Has resulted in increased interest in fuels derive from

cellulosic materials , such as cornstalks, wood, and
wastepaper, and from exotic nonfood plants such as
jatropha, camelina, and miscanthus.

 The

technology for producing ethanol from cellulose is less

well known and more expensive than that from corn or

sugarcane.
Genes

to synthesize the enzymes that can break down

cellulosic materials have been genetically introduced into

Escherichia coli.
Cellulose

sources also contain significant amounts of a

similar component, hemicellulose, which will require

organisms capable of digesting it

Algae in Biofuel Production

Advantages of Using Algae
They

do not take up valuable farmland needed for food

production.
Algae

produce 40 times the energy per acre that corn

produces
The

land the algae grow on can be agriculturally

nonproductive as long as it has abundant sunlight.

Experimental algal production sites have even used the carbon

dioxide emissions from power plants to accelerate growth.

The algae can be harvested on an almost daily basis.

Oils squeezed from them can be turned into biodiesel fuel and
possibly jet fuel.

Typical algae yield 20% of their weight in oil, and some even
more.

After oil extraction, the remainder, rich in carbohydrates and

proteins, can be used to produce ethanol or as animal feed.

Reference
Tortora G. J., Funke B. R., Case C. L. (2013). Microbiology: An
Introduction (11th Ed.). United States of America: Pearson Education
Inc.
Willey J. M., Sherwood L. M., Woolverton C. J. (2008). Prescott,
Harley, and Kleins Microbiology (7th Ed.). New York, NY: McGrawHill.
Madigan M. T., Martinko J. M., Parker J. (2003). Brock Biology of
Microorganism (10th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education
Inc.