Essays on Lactic Acid Fermentation

Before the 16th century, the existence of micro-organism had not been discovered. It was until a microscope was invented that micro-organism become a subject of discussion (Barnett 2003). Microbiology is the study of microorganisms or microbes. Microorganisms are the smallest living organisms that cannot be observed with our naked hence they need to be magnified using magnification tools such as microscope. Examples of micro-organisms are bacteria, virus and fungi. Fermentation in simple terms is the conversion of sugar into acid, gases and alcohol by enzymes that act as catalysts (Pumphrey and Julie 1996). Fermentation is a process that occur takes place in ...

Introduction

Fermentation process refers to the conversion of sugars such as glucose to alcohol, carbon dioxide and energy in the form of ATP (Kale and Gokhale). Fermentation occurs in the absence of oxygen and converts substrates such as glucose into products such as acetate or lactic acid. During fermentation, there is no oxidation phosphorylation and thus the amount of ATP that is produced is low (Pigage, Neilsen and Greeder). One specific example of fermentation is lactic acid fermentation, which is the simplest form of fermentation. In the presence of oxygen in the cells, most organisms bypass fermentation to undergo cellular ...

(City, State) Lactic acid fermentation refers to a biological process where sugars such as fructose, glucose, and sucrose undergo conversion to form cellular energy lactic acid. The process is an anaerobic kind of fermentation reaction and takes place in a number of bacteria as well as in animal cells like the muscle cells (Campbell & Reece, 2005). The application of lactic acid fermentation is broad especially in the food industry (Tempeh, 2008). Some of the bacteria that are involved in the production of lactic acid include pediococcus cerevisiae, leuconostoc mesenteroides, bifidobacterium bifidus, and streptococcus lactis (Tempeh, 2008). The process is also ...