Fermentation of plant-based foods: Microbial consortia and their impacts on composition, sensory quality, and health benefits of food products.

Fermented millets as next-generation functional foods: insights into microbiota modulation and gastrointestinal health

Millets are nutrient-rich, climate-resilient grains widely consumed in developing nations. Fermentation enhances their nutritional and functional properties, offering potential benefits for gut health. This review examines the impact of fermented millet products on gut microbiota composition, digestive health, and their functional bioactivity. An extensive literature review was conducted, analysing traditional and modern fermented millet products, associated microbial consortia, biochemical changes during fermentation, and their health implications, especially in relation to gut flora and metabolic regulation. Fermentation significantly enhances the nutritional quality of millets by improving the bioavailability of minerals, reducing antinutritional factors, and enriching bioactive compounds, including polyphenols and dietary fibre. Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in fermented products enhance protein digestibility, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) production, and gut microbial diversity. These changes contribute to immune modulation, anti-inflammatory responses, and mitigation of gut dysbiosis. Numerous traditional fermented millet foods, such as Koko, Fura, and Dosa, enriched with probiotics, show health-promoting potential. Modern innovations focus on developing shelf-stable, functional millet-based products. Fermented millet products offer a promising, sustainable dietary strategy to enhance gut health and prevent chronic diseases. Their integration into functional foods can support global nutrition and combat food insecurity.

Bacterial and Fungal Fermentation to Improve the Nutritional Value of Legumes: Opportunities in the Development of Sustainable Plant Proteins

Application of Functional Microorganisms in Seed-Based Fermentation for the Production of Nutritionally Enhanced and Bioactive Food Condiments: A Review

Fermentation remains one of the oldest and most effective biotechnological processes for improving food quality, safety, and shelf life. In Africa, the fermentation of seed-based substrates such as African locust bean ( Parkia biglobosa ), soybean ( Glycine max ), melon seed ( Citrullus lanatus ), Bambara groundnut ( Vigna subterranea ), and sesame ( Sesamum indicum ) plays a vital role in the production of traditional condiments, such as iru , dawadawa , ogiri , ugba , and okpehe. This review examines the application of functional microorganisms in the fermentation of seed-based substrates and their contributions to the enhancement of nutritional and bioactive properties of fermented food condiments. Functional microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria, Bacillus species, yeasts, and selected fungi, facilitate complex biochemical transformations through enzymatic degradation of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. These activities improve nutrient bioavailability, protein digestibility, flavor development, and overall product quality. An ideal functional starter culture must possess several criteria that include safety status, enzymatic capability, acid tolerance, fermentation efficiency, and bioactive metabolite production, are discussed. The review highlights the mechanisms through which microbial fermentation promotes the production of bioactive compounds such as bioactive peptides, bacteriocins, short-chain fatty acids, gamma-aminobutyric acids, and antioxidant metabolites, many of which are associated with antihypertensive, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and gut-health-promoting effects. In addition, fermentation significantly reduces antinutritional factors such as phytates, tannins, oxalates, and trypsin inhibitors, thus enhancing mineral absorption and nutritional utilization. Overall, the integration of functional microorganisms into seed-based fermentation systems offers a sustainable approach to improving the nutritional value, safety, functionality, and commercial potential of traditional fermented condiments. This approach supports food security, promotes the valorization of indigenous seed resources, and contributes to the development of innovative functional foods aligned with modern nutritional and public health needs.

Effects of Lactic Acid Bacteria Fermentation on the Physicochemical Properties, Nutritional Value, and Sensory Characteristics of a White Kidney Bean-Based Beverage

The increasing demand for sustainable food systems, high-value resource utilization, and dietary diversification has promoted the development of plant-based beverages. This study aimed to develop a white kidney bean-based beverage (WKBB) through lactic acid bacteria fermentation and investigate the effects of different fermentation strategies on its physicochemical properties, nutritional characteristics, volatile compounds, and sensory quality. WKBB was fermented using Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Limosilactobacillus fermentum, and a mixed culture of both strains. The results showed that fermentation significantly modified the quality characteristics of WKBB, including changes in its physicochemical properties and free amino acid composition. Furthermore, fermentation promoted the release of phenolic and flavonoid compounds during simulated gastrointestinal digestion. GC–MS analysis revealed that fermentation altered the volatile composition of WKBB and increased the diversity of volatile compounds, thereby contributing to a more complex flavor profile. Sensory evaluation indicated that fermented samples exhibited improved overall sensory characteristics, with mixed-strain fermentation resulting in a more balanced quality profile. These findings demonstrate that lactic acid bacteria fermentation, particularly mixed-strain fermentation, is a promising and sustainable strategy for the development of a white kidney bean-based beverage and for enhancing the utilization of plant-based resources.

Fermented Agri-Food By-Products from Tubers and Legumes as Next-Generation Functional Ingredients: From Waste Valorisation to Precision Nutrition

Processing tubers such as potato, sweet potato, cassava, and yam, as well as legumes such as soybean, pea, chickpea, bean, and lentil, generates substantial quantities of peels, pulps, husks, and press cakes that retain considerable nutritional and functional value despite often being discarded. Microbial fermentation has emerged as a low-cost and scalable approach for valorising these residues into functional ingredients with improved digestibility and enhanced bioactive-compound content. This study synthesises the composition of major tuber and legume by-products, the solid-state and submerged fermentation systems employed for their bioconversion, and the biochemical and functional transformations achieved through fermentation, including improvements in antioxidant activity, prebiotic potential, antihyperglycaemic properties, and protein quality. The emerging applications of these fermented by-products in bakery products, dairy alternatives, snacks, nutraceuticals, and the conceptually related field of gut-microbiome-guided precision nutrition are also examined. Persistent challenges, including compositional variability, safety monitoring, and regulatory classification, are critically evaluated alongside strategies for addressing these limitations. Overall, fermentation-based valorisation of tuber and legume residues represents a scientifically credible and environmentally sustainable strategy for transforming agri-food waste streams into value-added, functional nutrition ingredients.

From fruit waste to foods via fermentation

The increasing generation of fruit waste represents a major environmental and economic challenge for the agri-food sector, while also offering significant opportunities for sustainable valorisation within the framework of the circular economy. Fruits rejected for cosmetic reasons, together with processing by-products, are rich sources of dietary fibre, sugars and bioactive compounds that can be converted into value-added products. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of microbial fermentation as a sustainable strategy for fruit waste valorisation, with particular emphasis on the role of lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, yeasts and microbial consortia in improving the nutritional, technological and functional properties of fruit-derived substrates. Current evidence demonstrates that microbial fermentation not only preserves fruit biomass but also enhances its value through the degradation of complex carbohydrates, the biotransformation of phenolic compounds, the production of bioactive metabolites and the generation of functional ingredients. This review further discusses the contribution of viable microorganisms and postbiotic components to product functionality, as well as the importance of microbial viability, processing conditions and storage stability for the development of safe and functional fermented foods. In addition, it highlights recent advances in the use of microbial consortia and identifies the mechanisms governing microorganism–plant matrix interactions as a key area requiring further investigation. Overall, the available literature supports fermentation as a versatile and effective strategy for transforming fruit waste into high-value food products. By integrating current knowledge on microbial metabolism, functionality and processing challenges, this review identifies the main scientific and technological gaps and outlines future research priorities, including microbial consortium design, process scale-up, regulatory considerations and life cycle assessment, to facilitate the industrial implementation of sustainable fruit waste biorefineries.