Fermented Foods: Stacking Up the Science
31 Mar 2020 | Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute
Fermented foods have appeared on countless food and nutrition trends lists this year, seemingly rocketing to a top industry priority in a very short period of time. We’re seeing the word ‘fermented’ find its way into all aspects of food and beverages, not just cultured foods or probiotics. When a trend grows this quickly, confusion and misinformation can often grow with it, making it hard to understand the best way to navigate this space. In this webinar, the experts answer some of the biggest questions created in the wake of the rapidly growing fermented food trend.
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Hello everyone and welcome to all our listeners from around the world to today's Food ingredients first hosted webinar.
I am Catherine Durrell and I will be moderating your webinar today.
I'm the platform editor of CNS Media, which is the publisher of The World of Food Ingredients, Food Ingredientsfirst.com, and NutritionInsight.com.
Today, we are hosting a webinar entitled Fermented Foods, Stacking Up the Science.
Presented by the KARE Health and Nutrition Institute, the webinar comes as fermented foods have become a top industry priority in a very short period of time.
This year, fermentation is appearing on countless food and nutrition trends lists, and is notably stepping outside the realm of just cultured foods and probiotics.
Perceptions around fermented foods are driving changes in the market, leading to foundational shifts in the industry landscape.
Additionally, fermentation technology can be used for taste.
Although fermentation now appears across food and drink categories and is a trendy buzzword for many, some people may be unaware of what exactly is meant by the word.
While it can have multiple definitions, within food, fermentation has a very specific meaning.
As trends have a tendency to outstrip science and regulation, it is vital that these are kept in mind.
This webinar will explain the science of how fermented foods are made, why they are used, and how we should talk about them.
It'll ask a crucial question, what do we really know and what can we expect in the near future?
Now, I will introduce our speakers.
First, we have Doctor Maria Marco.
Maria is a professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis.
She investigates the microorganisms and food and intestinal ecosystems, with her research emphasizing lactic acid bacteria and the contributions of these bacteria to the production of fermented foods and beverages, as as the human health and -being.
Maria and her team use approaches in systems biology, genetics, and ecology to study the common and unique properties of individual strains, as as the functional capacities of food and gut microbiomes.
Second, we have Emma Cahill, who is the senior manager of food protection and fermentation at Ky Taste and Nutrition.
She leads strategy and marketing for KAERY's global food production and fermentation and Fleischmann's vinegar Company businesses.
She has been with KERY for 3 years working in Ireland and the US.
Emma has a BSC in Agricultural Science and an MSE in International Marketing Practice, both from University College Dublin.
Prior to KAERI, Emma has held roles in the sports medical industry based in London and promoting Irish food and beverage companies in France through Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board.
I will now hand the webinar over to Maria.
Thank you.
So in this webinar, you will learn the origin of fermented foods.
How to influence different types of fermentation and how this links to foods and beverages you're familiar with.
The impact of consumer perceptions on the marketplace.
State of the science about the role of fermented foods in health.
And how fermentation works to potentially deliver these health benefits.
You should note certified food scientists may claim a maximum of one pH for their participation in this program.
As we launch into this topic on fermented foods, I think it's instructive that we look back and reflect on how our ancestors could have used fermented foods.
In their daily lives, we know through archaeological records that fermented foods were made.
More than 14,000 years ago.
During the Neolithic period.
We know that because of this, because of these archaeological records that our ancestors.
Employed intentionally and perhaps unintentionally the production of fermented foods.
The process of doing this would have been instrumental, essential even in moving from hunter-gatherer communities to file ones where we have agriculture and the development of villages and cities, where we needed food preservation methods to feed increasing numbers of people and to keep them safe.
For example, wine and beer.
An ale would have been better to drink than water many times because of water contamination.
So really, as a result of the importance of fermented food to our ancestors, we now have over 5000 different types of fermented foods made around the world and by all cultures on Earth.
However, we're not here just to think about history, but how fermented foods are impacting our lives today.
Over the past 20 years, there's been a re-emergence of interest in the West of making fermented foods.
We see this at home through employing traditional methods of canning.
We see it amongst consumers interested in different types of fermented foods, artisanal, for example, artisanal cheeses, or kombucha on our grocery shelves.
And also the use of fermented foods is being employed by chefs in high-end restaurants around the world, experimenting with different ingredients and coming up with all kinds of new fermented foods that they're putting onto their menus.
So now I want to give the definition of fermented food.
And I want to take a moment to break this down because this is a really important part of understanding what fermented seeds are.
So fermented foods are going to be these foods and beverages that are made as a result of intentional and extensive microbial growth.
So you'll see the word microbial in bold here.
And this means we want microbes to grow as a starting ingredients.
These microbes can include bacteria, yeast, and mold.
You'll also see here underlying intentional and extensive, and this is to contrast with the unintentional or undesired growth of microorganisms in spoilage.
So in a way, fermented foods are a special kind of spoilage, where microbes grow as a result of our wishes.
So that's why we have intentional and frequently to make these fermented foods, the microbial growth needs to be extensive.
Next, I want to take you through the basic steps in making fermented foods.
These steps are so elementary that we do them every day in our kitchen frequently without thinking about it and relays back to how they were made and discovered initially by our ancestors.
So we would start with any food of our choice and any ingredients ranging from fruits and vegetables, milk, meat.
Grains and legumes.
And then we, through intentional and frequently unintentional activities, we prepare them.
For example, we would chop vegetables, we would grind meats.
We frequently would add salt as a way to preserve the food, to reduce the growth of microbes we don't want to have growing in our, in our ferment.
As as Releasing nutrients, giving microbes the opportunity to grow.
Spicing, we would alter, the flavors, but we would also providing more nutrients for those microbes.
For some foods, we would pack them to reduce their exposure to oxygen, and for others, we could soak or heat them to help prepare for the fermentation step.
Next, we can think about how these fermented foods are guided by those very basic building blocks in the ingredients.
So for example, if we have a food rich in sugars like in milk or in ah fruits, we would encourage the growth of lactic acid bacteria and yeast.
In foods that are dominated by molds, we would have first proteins, fat, and polysaccharides that are broken down.
First by molds are special bacteria called endospore forming bacteria, and that would frequently lead to the growth of lactic acid bacteria and yeast.
Next, we would condition those foods.
By exposing them to different temperature, exposing them to air or not, adjusting the acidity, and even water activity.
As a result, we end up with these 5000 different types of fermented foods.
Although there is such complexity, we can actually break this down into just some simple classes that I think could be instructive as we direct ourselves to the different properties of these foods.
For example, fermentations that are guided by lactic acid bacteria have a lot of lactic acid.
Example here would be kimchi.
As you can see, there's basically any food group, we would have a lactic acid fermentation where that is possible.
Other bacteria can make acetic acid in high quantities, and they're essential for making vinegar and kombucha.
Hence, we call them acetic acid-type foods.
We have foods that are rich in gas, so carbon dioxide, an example there, we need to have that in making, making leavened bread, or kombucha.
And then, of course, our alcoholic beverages.
And last, in Asia we have a huge variety of mold modified foods, frequently starting with legumes like soybeans, and then we would end up with tempe soy sauce.
These aren't the only possibilities as.
So now I'm gonna turn over to Emma.
As you heard in the introduction, I'm a marketer, and I need data to be strategic.
So I want to look with you at the size of the market and to see if there's opportunity to play and is it growing.
So BIS research predicts that the market for fermented food, beverage, and ingredients is going to get close to $700 billion in 2023.
So this is a huge market with kegers between 4.3 and 7%, so it is growing.
But how do we make that actionable?
Strategies about choice.
So I would suggest breaking it down into sub-segments where you can play.
We look at things like the enzymes market where a size of about 17 billion.
Vinegar is coming in just over 1 billion.
We have the fermented food market, which is absolutely huge and broad at 58 billion.
And the most interesting sub sub segment that I've find is the kombucha market, which is projected to go from just over 1 billion to close to 8 billion by 2025.
We're looking at double digit cakeer growth, and that's a really exciting space to get into.
So what do consumers know about fermented foods?
I have the luxury of stepping back into my consumer shoes on a regular basis and letting myself be influenced by packaging and marketing, and trying to see if what they say on the label matches how I feel and how I enjoy the product.
It's an expensive habit, as I down wellness shots and another variety of goodies that promise me all sorts of health and wellness benefits.
So we need to see how that label match promises to how, how that label compares to how it promises to make you feel and certainly how it tastes.
Fermented foods are definitely positively perceived by consumers, but they often worry that they're going to taste bad.
So are fermented foods just a fad?
I'm going to say no.
As you hear across this webinar, there are trends supporting it, grounded in science and culture.
The most common perception at a consumer level is the positive benefit on the microbiome and digestive health.
Maria is going to talk to you about the wealth of scientific evidence that's out there and the fact that we need more.
And why this is growing so rapidly is the industry has launched products with taste improvements.
So there are fermented flavors that are grounded in history and Asian cuisine.
But flavor improvements means that the health and wellness benefits of fermented foods are opening themselves up to a wider mainstream market.
We want to look at the next big thing in fermented foods.
We've gone into new product launches, and we're looking at the growth rate of these launches, but also the breadth of them around the world to see whether they're niche or mainstream or established.
So starting at the right hand side, if we look at some of the more established fermented products, they're almost at a commodity level with things like beer, wine, and vinegar that everybody would be familiar with at home.
We're seeing kombucha rising in popularity with just explosive growth in recent times.
And then interestingly products like sourdough, which are outpacing the parent category.
So if you're looking at fermented bread, fermented dairy, that's outpacing the growth of otherwise stagnant categories.
That's an interesting insight into the industry.
If you ask me where the next big thing is, I would say Kaffir is where a lot of investment is happening, so that could be the next kombucha.
And then we're looking at niche products that aren't new to the market.
They've been around for centuries, but they're coming from a smaller base number and growing rapidly, things like fermented coffee that are actually focused on taste rather than health benefits and products like Lassie that are becoming more mainstream and leaving their historic cultures.
So if we look at what the industry has done to support this growth.
I feel the places where this is having the most success is the intersection of health and wellness and taste.
Consumers really do care about health, but if we start at the left-hand side, you know, a shot of apple cider vinegar every morning, as much as we all know it's good for us and the scientific research to support that, I would say it's only for the brave.
You definitely don't take that shot of apple cider vinegar initially because of the beautiful taste benefits.
The market has responded, coming out with apple cider vinegar capsules.
You don't have to deal with the taste, but over time the market has learned and come out with products that people actually want to eat and drink, with these gut shots, with gummies, the gorgeous apple cider vinegar beverages.
So this is where the intersection of health and wellness and taste are creating absolutely massive growth.
And this is flipped completely from vinegar, you know, white distilled vinegar, which is essentially a commodity to these luxury products, for making shrub beverages or water improvers that are not necessarily launched with a health focus but focused on taste, which is a really modern taste, modern take on our historic vinegar commodities.
We compare this to kombucha.
Starting on the left-hand side, I would say kombucha flavor is a little niche.
My personal opinion is that it can taste like feet.
Maybe I'm not so good at making it.
And over time the industry has made great improvements on taste to take it from that niche market of people who are looking for that unusual taste to open it up to mainstream.
So people who were once concerned that their kombucha beverage, as much as it's healthy, was going to taste bad, have a variety of options.
We're even coming across hybrid hybrids such as kombucha flavored snacks, dry kombucha products, and then hybrids like smoobucha, which is a kombucha blended smoothie.
That's why we're seeing such explosive growth here.
And then a quick look at the dairy category that has been around forever but unfortunately is a category in decline.
We're seeing a lot of suffering around the industry.
If you take products that were initially just focused on health on the left hand side, health and wellbeing, you know, we're seeing growth in areas where that health and wellness is added to by taste.
So we're seeing growth in the plant-based market, which has made huge improvements in taste in recent years.
Products that are low in sugar but taste amazing from.
Flavor perception point of view, and then also convenience.
So digestive health drinks like Activia that are now easier for on the go and taste great, so you don't feel like you're enduring something for your digestive health.
In the yogurt category, there is, of course, always a place for health, products that are less focused on health and more focused on taste and indulgence.
But the subcategories that we're seeing growth in are where our health aligns with taste.
So we talk a lot about storytelling in terms of product marketing and reaching consumers, and fermented foods have a really great story.
So fermentation has a place in reducing food waste.
The process of fermenting foods and beverages extends their shelf life beyond just that fresh food.
We also use fermented ingredients as natural protection for food.
But then there's a great story of reducing food waste in waste streams.
So some of these brands are taking breakfast cereals and bread that would otherwise go to waste, and they're upcycling them through the process of fermentation into beer.
And then another example is nutrition bars that are actually made from the waste products of fermentation in beer production and upcycled into healthy, nutritious bars.
So what are the health associations?
Thankfully, I have Marie here to talk to you about the science, but I want to talk to you about what consumers are exposed to.
We're seeing headlines everywhere talking about the benefits of fermented foods and beverages.
You see it on Instagram, you see it on social media.
There's Documentaries on Netflix, and some of this is possibly a little ahead of the science, but what we can definitely say is that it's confusing to consumers.
They're exposed everywhere to all sorts of promises and articles about the health benefits of fermented foods, so they're interested.
But to be successful in this market, we would say you want to be making claims that are backed by science and that you can explain and educate your consumer on.
And finally, what is the industry doing?
So we're seeing new product launches and new scientific research emerging that is going to fuel this growth.
But when we look at big players and what they're doing from a merger and acquisition point of view, we can see that they're hedging their bets and putting money behind these products with the likes of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Milton Coors investing in kombucha companies, but also becoming majority stakeholders, stake stakeholders in vinegar, beverage drinks.
So we can see that the industry is also hedging their bets on the double digit growth that is expected from this tremendous food of market.
With that, I'll hand you back to Maria to talk to you about the science.
Thank you Anna.
So for the remainder of the seminar, we're gonna ask the question, are fermented foods actually healthy?
And if so, how do they work?
So Emma nicely pointed out, there is a lot of interest in how fermented foods can be healthy for us, and this is broadly shared amongst consumers and media outlets.
So what you're looking at here in this slide are a variety of ways that fermented foods have been explored to benefit human health.
And with these different endpoints in mind, these are the same kinds of targets we would have just in diet in general.
As as what we're thinking about presently is how our gut microbiota can be influencing our digestive health and other organs in our body.
But here we're to talk about fermented foods.
So what do we actually know?
Unfortunately, I have to start by saying.
We don't have enough human studies at the moment.
So for most fermented foods, there's only 1 or maybe 2 human studies, and frequently, these human trials are small or really observational.
And so we don't have enough evidence for the majority of fermented foods made to make any strong conclusions.
I'm gonna give you some examples on end points that have been measured, but keep this in mind.
So for inflammatory bowel syndrome, something we think about affecting our digestive health, there's really Very few studies and I can find.
In the literature and through my own experience looking at sauerkraut and sourdough.
So there we have some evidence that these foods could be benefiting individuals with inflammatory bowel syndrome, but more evidence is needed.
Obesity is of course a very major target these days as we think about the obesity epidemic worldwide.
And we can look at fermented dairy foods like yogurt, as as interestingly, kimchi, where some studies have been done in Korea.
Where both of these foods have shown a benefit.
The same for type 2 diabetes, and we can expand a variety of fermented foods that have been examined for reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The same for cardiovascular disease.
Immunity, of course, is also a very big target, and of course our immune systems are vital in many ways.
And in one study performed with kimchi, there was some increased benefit in reducing the risk of atopic dermatitis.
And lastly, we're interested in foods and how they can modify our mood and behavior.
And most obviously, we've had studies and we'll understand how wine and beer and coffee, in particular, caffeine in coffee, can affect mood and behavior.
I want to give just one example with some more depth.
So what we know most about how fermented foods can benefit our health has come through studies of dairy, and in particular, yogurt, but to some extent, cheese as.
So what we know, mostly through observational studies, Is that , and, and a few RC randomized controlled trials is that fermented dairy is inversely associated with systemic inflammation.
Type 2 diabetes risk, and cardio metabolic disease risk.
So for one example, I'm highlighting this paper published in 2011 in New England Journal of Medicine.
So in the study, data was utilized from 3 separate perspective cohorts to examine the relationship between diet, lifestyle factors, and weight change.
And this was done every 4 years between 1986 and 2006.
The figure here on the right shows changes in weight associated with each increased daily serving a variety of different foods over a 4-year period.
The bar to the right of the 0.
Indicate foods where you have an associated weight gain.
The bars on the left you see associated with weight loss.
Now specific to dairy, the authors found that increased consumption of milk or cheese had no appreciable effect on body weight.
Regardless of fat level.
However, interestingly, each serving of yogurt, daily increased serving of yogurt was found to be associated with just under 1 pound of weight loss.
This is interesting also because this benefit was on par or slightly greater to other foods typically associated with reduced body weight, such as vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and nuts.
Given the importance of overweight and obesity as a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.
This shows the potential for yogurt in reducing long-term risk for type 2 diabetes, so.
We can use fermented yogurt or use dairy and yogurt in particular as a model for how we can expand this to other fermented foods.
So, 2nd, and 2nd question we had is how could fermented foods be making us healthier beyond the starting ingredients?
At the start of our webinar, I went over how fermented foods were used for preservation by our ancestors, and we continue to do that today, of course.
We know that some fermented foods also increase the safety.
Particularly by lowering the PH.
However, that's not all.
So let's take a look at 3 other ways that fermented foods can provide health benefits beyond the starting ingredients.
They can be transforming through fermentation, food components.
We can get the synthesis of new compounds, and we can also increase in some foods, the numbers of living microbes.
So, let's take a look at this first way.
So through through fermentation, we are transforming those food ingredients to something else.
We know this based on their fruit flavors and textures.
But through transformation we are removing compounds and making.
Certain foods more digestible.
The example I want to share is with fermented dairy.
So through fermentation, we are reducing lactose content in our fermented food, in the ferment in milk.
So per serving, we would start with 12 g of lactose, and per serving of cheese, we would end up with just 1 g of lactose.
And we know this is beneficial for people who are lactose intolerant.
Interestingly, we also know that fermented dairy actually predates lactase persistence.
In human populations.
So it's quite plausible that fermenting dairy was essential to making it consumable by our ancestors.
So that's how fermenting fermentation can transform food.
Fermentation can also result in the synthesis or the making of new bioactive compounds.
And making of those compounds might make the food healthier.
The example I want to share is with vinegar.
So by making vinegar, we are increasing the acetic acid content.
Frequently, vinegars will contain about 5% acetic acid.
Acetic acid intake has been linked to increased insulin sensitivity, satiety, and decreased gastric emptying.
So how would this work?
We actually don't really know, but we have some pretty good leads.
For example, by impacting other microbes in the digestive tract, changing our gut microbiota, for example.
Acetic acid can also alter the functioning of our intestinal lining, so our intestinal cells, and we know that acetic acid can also move beyond the intestine to other organs in the body.
So it might be a combination of these different factors, we just don't know yet.
Lastly, some fermented foods also provide us with more living microbes in our diet.
And by this the non-harmful commensal types of microbes.
Some fermented foods, for example, kimchi, can increase the numbers of microbes in our diet by 100 to 10,000 fold.
We don't exactly know what this means yet, but there are some correlations we have between the increased sanitation in our lives and more sanitized food supply, and rise of allergic disease.
Again, this is the correlation and more work is needed.
But I also want to conclude by pointing out that just because we're consuming living microbes, doesn't mean they're probiotic.
The term probiotic means, That when we're applying microbes in a certain amount and we expect those microbes to confer a health benefits.
For probiotics to be reputable, we actually really need to know the genetics of those organisms that we're providing.
This means fermented foods that have undefined consortia of micro microbial strains in particular.
We don't know if they for health benefits.
And therefore we shouldn't be overextending the use of the word probiotic when we don't really know, particularly through human studies with those organisms, whether they actually are benefiting our health.
Instead, we advise to use words like live and active cultures, or this food contains living organisms.
So we have just a few key takeaways for you here.
Ah, first of all, per perceptions of fermented food health benefits are creating major changes in food and beverage marketplace.
Taste innovations are helping once niche fermented foods become mainstream.
There are a huge variety of fermented foods.
But science supporting their health benefits in humans is really limited beyond fermented dairy products like yogurt.
Health altering aspects of fermented foods are due to the ingredients used combined with microbial growth and metabolism.
So as I went over, how those ingredients are transformed, how new products are synthesized, and potentially how some fermented foods are increasing the living microbes in our diet.
This is Catherine Durrell from Food Ingredients First once again.
I will now host a Q&A session with the speakers.
Thank you very much, Maria and Emma, for this interesting presentation, and thank you to our listeners for sending in some thoughtful questions.
To get started, here's a question asking, at a commercial level, how can it be guaranteed that fermented products are consistent?
Do foods continue to ferment once packaged?
Maria, maybe you could answer this one.
That does remain to be a challenge.
From increasing consistency.
We can look to, for example, the cheese industry that has developed starter cultures.
Ensuring the starter culture viability.
Monitoring the microbes during fermentation.
Really helps ensure a consistent food in the end.
Majority of fruit and vegetable fermentation, probably all, don't use starter cultures, and that can result in a lot of variation.
Because we are relying on the microbes coming in and the starting ingredients.
We do know that fermentation can continue once the ferment is done and you want to package and put onto the supermarket shelves.
To have that natural label, we're currently constrained by what we, what can be done.
Although fermentation does slow and can stop through cooling, you can still get secondary fermentations, and adding preservatives is going to still be the best way.
We do need new solutions, to increase the shelf life of these foods.
Thank you very much.
This next question I think is one for Emma.
A listener wants to know the size of the market is predicted to get close to $700 billion US dollars and it's still growing.
What exactly does this include?
So that is a very broad picture of the market.
So it includes things like fermented dairy, like yogurt, fermented vegetables, fermented beverages, and then an ingredient level, things like amino acids, organic acids, enzymes, probiotics.
So when you lump industrial scale fermented ingredients with fermented food and fermented beverages, that's why you're getting that really impressive scale, but when you delve into the sub sub segments of that market, you're seeing double digit growth in some areas, like kombucha and apple cider vinegar.
So the opportunity here is long term when you focus on something that matches your strengths.
I think the kombucha market is globally at about 23% caker, so that kind of number is really impressive.
Mm, yeah, definitely.
The next question is, are there any risk to fermented foods?
And can people safely ferment products at home without food safety issues?
Maybe this is one for Maria.
There are risks with fermented foods.
Ah, so we have Fermented foods, as I outlined at the start, that have high acid content.
That means they're gonna have a lower pH.
So, foods that have a high acid content, like lactic foods or acetic acid foods.
Are safer because they reduce the risk for foodborne pathogen survival.
There are some lightly fermented, fermented, types of foods that are being made, and they do have increased risk.
We do know that foodborne pathogens can survive in those foods.
We also know that mold fermented foods can have microtoxins.
Commercially, those organisms used to make mold fermented foods are screened to make sure they are not making microtoxins.
Mold fermented foods, such as rind cheeses like camembert, brie, blue cheeses have a higher pH.
Therefore, they are particularly risky, for, Listeria infections.
So that's why we advise, pregnant women not to be consuming them.
Other issues with fermentheis can be the presence of biogenic amines, and these could be made by lactic acid bacteria.
Biogenic means can cause allergies among some people.
I would always advise caution when making fermented foods at home.
I would invest in, for example, a pH meter just to check to make sure the acid level is reached and always, always to use our best instinct.
If something smells off or look off, not to consume it.
Mm, that's great advice.
The next listener wants to know, they know that some consumers may negatively perceive fermented foods due to their unfamiliar smell and taste.
Does this create any challenges or stigma around fermentation and how could this be minimized?
Maybe this is one for Emma.
So as we saw in my presentation, the industry is doing an awful lot to launch products with better taste and more, mainstream appeal for consumer palates.
There's still a niche market out there that loves very strong fermented flavors, but a lot can be done to improve them and certainly make them consistent from batch to batch.
But I think perception is already changing with so many delicious launches featuring so prominently on the market, and there's also greater cultural diversity and travel opportunities now that people are getting to try new things and becoming more comfortable with new fermented flavors.
So I think that stigma is changing, that people understand that fermented doesn't necessarily mean bad tasting because industry has taken measures to bring taste and nutrition together.
Right.
Makes sense.
The next question is, do the bacteria used to ferment make it past the stomach into the gut to provide a probiotic benefit?
Do fermented foods have other generalizable benefits even if commercially sterile?
Maybe this is one for Maria.
Yeah, of course.
So I'll answer this in two parts.
First of all.
As I outlined before, there are really 3 ways we can think about how fermented foods would be healthier, than their starting ingredients.
So through, just through, through fermentation itself, we're gonna have transformation of the food ingredients, meaning the breakdown or removal of lactose, for example, and other, compounds that could cause GI upset.
We also get the synthesis of new compounds, for example, acetic acid.
So those would be benefits that we could have, even if the food is cooked at the end and there's no living microbes remaining.
I think there's more micro, more examples out there for sure of other compounds that are removed or made.
So that might really apply to so many different fermented foods and something that should be looked into for each of those foods.
By providing living microbes in some fermented foods, we might have a benefit.
As I said, we shouldn't necessarily call them probiotics.
We do know that many lactic acid bacteria can survive the stomach acid and reach our intestines.
However, we don't know whether those microbes in undefined fermented food cultures are providing us with health benefits.
This also needs more exploration.
Good to know what's coming up ahead then.
I think we have time for one last question for Emma.
Someone wants to know what is the fast growing from, what is the fastest growing fermented food?
OK, so from what we're seeing, I'm gonna say that the fastest growing tremendous segment is, is actually a beverage.
So as I said earlier, kombucha is growing at a 23% caer globally, and the base market size has crossed the billion mark already.
So that's not negligible.
And when you're looking at that M&A activity, that's where a lot of the big bets are being placed in terms of consumer produced goods.
There's industrial fermented ingredients where there's a lot of investments happening in fermentation capacity happening around the world for supporting that also but I would say a safe bet for my answer is gonna be kombucha.
Mhm.
Right.
Good to know.
That concludes today's questions.
I'd like to thank everyone for tuning in today's webinar brought to you by Kry Health and Nutrition Institute.
I hope you all found it as informative as I did.
Before we sign off, I'd like to let you all know that, questions that we didn't have time to answer today will be answered by email.
And as a last note for me to keep up with the latest developments in food ingredients and nutrition needs, please visit food ingredientsfirst.com and nutritionInsight.com and make sure to sign up to our newsletters.
Thank you.
