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What are micro-organisms?
Micro-organisms are very small living organisms. They can
be both harmful and useful to humans. Some micro-organisms
that produce useful substances are used in food production.

Bacteria are used in

the production of
yoghurt and cheese.

Fungi are used in the

manufacture of bread,
alcohol and mycoprotein.

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What are bacteria?
Bacteria are single celled organisms. They are very small in
size, measuring only a few micrometres (thousandth of a mm).
These organisms can be classified according to their shape:
spherical spiral rod curved rod

Bacteria can reproduce rapidly using a type of asexual

reproduction called binary fission – this involves one
bacteria splitting in two.

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How do bacteria feed?
A large number of different species of bacteria exist, they
exploit a very wide range of habitats. Different species of
bacteria feed in different ways:
 Consuming organic compounds from the environment,
e.g. from dead organisms, to obtain energy.
 Using photosynthesis to produce their own food.
 Obtaining carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and inorganic chemicals, i.e.
ammonia and nitrate to produce their own
food. This method of obtaining food allows
bacteria to survive extreme environments,
such as boiling sulphur-rich water.

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What do bacteria contain?

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What is fungi?
Fungi are a group of organisms that include
multicellular organisms such as moulds and
mushrooms, as well as single-celled fungi
called yeast.

Yeast produce enzymes that break

down complex carbohydrates into
smaller compounds, such as sugars,
which they absorb. Energy is
obtained from the sugar using either
aerobic or anaerobic respiration.

The yeast called Saccharomyces, is used in the production

of bread and alcohol. It is easily stored in dry conditions.

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What do yeast contain?

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Bacteria or yeast?

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What do micro-organisms need to grow?
To reproduce at the optimum growth rate micro-organisms
need to be kept in ideal conditions. This involves controlling
the following factors:

 food availability

 temperature

 pH

 removal of products.

Micro-organisms can be grown in a liquid broth

or on solid agar.

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How does temperature affect growth?
The growth of micro-organisms is affected by temperature.
For example, for every rise in temperature by 10°C the
growth rate of yeast doubles, up to an optimum temperature.

However, temperatures above the optimum

optimum can cause growth rates

growth rate
of micro-organisms to decline.

The temperature will

therefore also affect the
amount of chemical activity
that takes place. temperature
Why do temperatures above the optimum cause the growth
rate of micro-organisms to decline?

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Ideas about microbes

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The work of Louis Pasteur
Whilst investigating why wine went sour Pasteur discovered
that yeast caused fermentation, and bacteria caused the wine
to go off. People found these results surprising as they didn’t
realise that bacteria could cause chemical changes.

Pasteur suggested that micro-organisms can cause disease,

forming the basis of the germ theory of disease.

Pasteur discovered that by heating

the grapes to a high temperature before
fermentation, the wine did not go sour,
as the bacteria had been killed. This
technique is called pasteurization.

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Pasteurization
Pasteurization is now widely used in food and drink
production to prevent unwanted (and potentially harmful)
micro-organisms from growing.
There are several different types of pasteurization:
 conventional low temperature holding (LTH)
– liquid is heated to 60 °C for 40 minutes
 ultra-high temperature (UHT)
– 140 °C for 2 seconds.

Pasteurization using a higher temperature will kill off a wider

range of micro-organisms. In order to prevent contamination
it’s also important that the equipment used at each stage of
food production is sterilized.

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True or false?

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Micro-organisms in food production
There are advantages of using micro-organisms in the
production of food and drink, including:
 rapid population growth
 micro-organisms are easy to
grow and the substances they
produce are easily extracted
 use of waste products from
other industrial processes
 production is independent of climate.
Micro-organisms break down substances using aerobic or
anaerobic respiration. The effect of anaerobic respiration
is often called fermentation.

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Bacteria in cheese production
Cheese is made by fermenting milk using bacteria.
The production of cheese involves the following steps:
1. Raw milk is pasteurized and two types of bacteria are added.
2. The bacteria respire anaerobically
producing lactic acid:
lactose (sugar)  lactic acid + energy
This causes the milk to become acidic. An
enzyme called rennet is also added. This
along with the acidity causes the milk to
curdle forming solid curd and liquid whey.
3. The whey is drained off, leaving the solid curd.
The cheese is then ripened and processed.

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Bacteria in yoghurt production

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Yeast in bread production
Bread is produced using flour, yeast and water.

Yeast produce a mixture of enzymes which break down

the starch in the flour into glucose.

The glucose provides sugar for aerobic respiration in yeast:

carbon
glucose + oxygen  dioxide + water ( + energy)

The carbon dioxide produced by

respiration causes the bread to
rise. This stage of bread making
is called proving. After proving
the bread is baked.

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Yeast in beer production

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Yeast in the production of other alcohols
Yeast is used to make other alcoholic drinks
including wine, rum, whiskey and vodka.

In wine-making natural sugars

in the grapes are used as an
energy source by the yeast..

Spirits are made using sugar from the following sources:

rum – molasses vodka – potatoes whiskey –

or cane sugar or cereal grains malted barley

During production alcoholic drinks are distilled. This process

involves boiling to increase the alcohol concentration.

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Fungi in mycoprotein production
Mycoprotein is a
protein-rich food which
has been developed as
an alternative to meat in
a vegetarian diet. It is
produced using a
fungus called Fusarium.

In the production of mycoprotein, the cells of the fungi

itself are used to make the final product.

The fungus is grown in aerobic conditions and starch is

provided for food. After growth the biomass is harvested
and purified. It can then be flavoured and shaped.

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Using micro-organisms in food

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Glossary

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Anagrams

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Multiple-choice quiz

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