Preface

This Edited Volume is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, concerning the developments within the *Lactobacillus* field. The book includes scholarly contributions by various authors and edited by a group of experts pertinent to *Lactobacillus*. Each contribution comes as a separate chapter complete in itself but directly related to the book's topics and objectives.

The book includes chapters dealing with the topics:

Chapter 1 "Indian Traditional Fermented Foods: The Role of Lactic Acid Bacteria"

Chapter 2 "*Lactobacillus* Use for Plant Fermentation: New Ways for Plant-Based Product Valorization"

Chapter 3 "Diverse Bioactive Molecules from the Genus *Lactobacillus*"

Chapter 4 "Bacteriocins: Applications in Food Preservation and Therapeutics"

Chapter 5 "Use of *Lactobacillus* for Lactic Acid Production from Agro-Industrial By-Products"

Chapter 6 "Lactobacilli: Application in Food Industry"

Chapter 7 "*Lactobacillus* exopolysaccharide: An Untapped Biopolymer"

Chapter 8 "Effect of Sodium Acetate and Trace Element (Se2+, Zn2+) on Exopolysaccharide Production by *Lactobacillus plantarum* and Promote Antioxidant Capacity"

**IntechOpen**

**1**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

Bacteria

*and Ashwini Kumar*

health-promoting attributes.

human health

**1. Introduction**

Indian Traditional Fermented

Foods: The Role of Lactic Acid

*Arekal Nagaraja Roopashri, Janakiraman Savitha,* 

Fermentation technology is an important field comprising the use of microorganisms

and enzymes to produce the compounds that have applications in the food, pharmaceutical, energy, and chemical industries. Although food fermentation processes have been used for generations as a prerequisite for sustainable food production, today it has become more demanding to obtain functional and therapeutic food products through the application of continuous creations and advancement of innovative fermentation processes. For these reasons, efforts are directed toward designing new processes, concepts, and technologies. Fermentation is a natural process whereby microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria and yeast convert carbohydrates such as starch and sugar into alcohol or acids, both of these act as a natural preservatives. This process is still used today to produce foods such as wine, cheese, sauerkraut, yogurt, and other types of traditional foods. Traditional fermented foods are popularly consumed and form an integral part of our diet since early history. They are recognized as having multiple benefits related to nutritive values, therapeutic properties, and sensory attributes. In most fermented foods, the fermentation process is predominantly initiated by lactic acid bacteria. These organisms have been termed as probiotic bacteria—a group that appears to have specific

**Keywords:** lactic acid bacteria, probiotics, prebiotics, traditional fermented foods,

The production of fermented foods is one of the oldest food processing technologies well known to mankind. Since the beginning of civilization, methods of fermenting milk, cereals, legumes, vegetables, and meats have been described [1]. The preparation of these kinds of fermented foods will be with us in the far future, as they are a source of alcoholic foods/beverages, vinegar, pickled vegetables, sausages, cheeses, yogurts, vegetable protein amino acid/peptide sauces, and pastes with meat-like flavors, and leavened and sourdough breads, and so on. Fermented foods are of great importance because they provide

*M.S. Divyashree, B.S. Mamatha, K.A. Usha Rani* 
