Fermented foods are experiencing a resurgence due to the consumers’ growing interest in foods that are natural and health promoting. Microbial fermentation is a biotechnological process which transforms food raw materials into palatable, nutritious and healthy food products. Fermentation imparts unique aroma, flavor and texture to food, improves digestibility, degrades anti-nutritional factors, toxins and allergens, converts phytochemicals such as polyphenols into more bioactive and bioavailable forms, and enriches the nutritional quality of food. Fermentation also modifies the physical functional properties of food materials, rendering them differentiated ingredients for use in formulated foods. The science of fermentation and the technological and health functionality of fermented foods is reviewed considering the growing interest worldwide in fermented foods and beverages and the huge potential of the technology for reducing food loss and improving nutritional food security.

A rapidly growing population, resource scarcity, and the future sustainability of our food supply are among the major concerns of today’s food industry. The importance of resilient food crops that will sustain in the future is imperative, and legumes are ideal future food crops owing to their rich nutrient profile, cost-effective production and resource usage efficiency. Furthermore, they have the potential to meet the protein needs of the future. There are however several limitations associated with legumes in terms of their sensory, nutritional, and functional properties, which make them challenging for the food industry to use. In this review, these challenges are discussed in detail with particular reference to fermentation as a strategy for overcoming them. A major focus is on examining the potential application of fermentation for modifying techno-functional properties, such as foaming and emulsifying properties, solubility, and water and oil binding capacities of legume substrates. In many studies, fermentation has been demonstrated to enhance the techno-functional, sensory and nutritional attributes of various legume substrates. Future studies must focus on developing scalable fermentation processes to utilize the technology for improving the techno-functional and sensory properties of legume-based ingredients at industrial scale.

Organic acids are widely utilized in the food industry for inhibiting the activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and enzymatic browning. This review discusses the mechanisms of inhibition of PPO and enzymatic browning by various organic acids based on studies in model systems, critically evaluates the relevance of such studies to real food systems and assesses the implication of the synergistic inhibitory effects of organic acids with other physicochemical processing techniques on product quality and safety. Organic acids inhibit the activity of PPO and enzymatic browning via different mechanisms and therefore the suitability of a particular organic acid depends on the structure and the catalytic properties of PPO and the physicochemical properties of the food matrix. Studies in model systems provide an invaluable insight into the inhibitory mechanisms of various organics acids. However, the difference in the effectiveness of PPO inhibitors between model systems and food systems and the lack of correlation between the degree of PPO inhibition based on in vitro assays and enzymatic browning imply that the effectiveness of organic acids can be accurately evaluated only via direct assessment of browning inhibition in a particular food system. Combination of organic acids with physical processing techniques is one of the most viable approaches for PPO inhibition since the observed synergistic effect helps to reduce the undesirable organoleptic quality changes from the use of excessive concentration of organic acids or intense physical processing.

High pressure processing (HPP) is a cold pasteurization technology by which products, prepacked in their final package, are introduced to a vessel and subjected to a high level of isostatic pressure (300–600 MPa). High-pressure treatment of fruit, vegetable and fresh herb homogenate products offers us nearly fresh products in regard to sensorial and nutritional quality of original raw materials, representing relatively stable and safe source of nutrients, vitamins, minerals and health effective components. Such components can play an important role as a preventive tool against the start of illnesses, namely in the elderly. An overview of several food HPP products, namely of fruit and vegetable origin, marketed successfully around the world is presented. Effects of HPP and HPP plus heat on key spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, including the resistant spore form and fruit/vegetable endogenous enzymes are reviewed, including the effect on the product quality. Part of the paper is devoted to the industrial equipment available for factories manufacturing HPP treated products.