Fermentation comes from a Latin word ‘fermentare’ that means to boil, that can be seen as a boiling appearance of the most common fermenting microorganism Yeast on the fruits, grains and other materials that undergo fermentation.
The carbon dioxide produced during the anaerobic process that degrades the sugars in the fruits and grains forming bubbles that give boiling appearance. Fermentation is done by the inoculation of desirable organism or a group of organisms in the suitable media.
But if this fermenting media comes in contact with any foreign microorganism it may lead to a loss in productivity of the actual fermenting microorganism due to a couple of reasons that are listed below:
- The foreign microorganism can outgrow the actual fermenting microorganism.
- The final product can be contaminated.
- The extraction of final product can become difficult due to the formation of some complex compound by the help of foreign microorganisms.
This can be avoided by the following methods:
- Inoculation in a pure culture.
- Sterilizationof the media used.
- Sterilizing the equipments and containers used.
- Aseptic conditions should be maintained during the whole process of fermentation.
- In order to obtain proper fermentation first the media used is to be sterilised. Sterilization of media can be done by use of radiation, chemical treatment, filtration, ultrasonic treatment or heat. The sterilizing treatment given is referred to as sterilant. Heating is the most commonly used form of sterilization as it kills most of the endospores present in the
media. Little amount of heat is given in the form of commercial sterilization that kills most of the microorganisms present in the media. Mostly sterilization with the help of steam is recommended for fermentation and all the other work best for animal or plant cultures.
