Microbial production of metabolites for food and processes

The world of microorganisms, the microbial universe, is so large and important that life on the Earth without it would be impossible. In fact, every living organism, both prokaryote and eukaryote, needs the microbial component to exist. We should think about the fermentation processes that stem from raw materials such as milk, flour, meat, cereals, and grapes and lead to the formation of products that are an integral part of our daily lifestyle, such as cheeses, bread, salami, beer, and wine. We should also consider the role of the microbiome, composed of both bacteria and fungi, which is so important for the well-being of our organism. We still think some biotechnological processes, in which microorganisms are the key players, give rise to the production of molecules (proteins, enzymes, carbohydrates, vitamins, and antioxidants) with high benefit and strong application impact for the food industry, the health sector, the environment, etc. Naturally, this chapter does not claim to describe all the biomolecules produced by microorganisms, which play an important role from a technological and biotechnological point of view. We do not claim to discuss all the metabolites produced by microorganisms that may be interesting in the food sector. We will limit ourselves to analyzing some of them, in particular vitamins and some aromatic molecules, also evaluating their potential impact at the industrial level.