Chapter 11: Omics of Lactic Acid Bacteria for Fermented Food Production

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play a significant role in a variety of fermented food products. They have functional and metabolic properties in the human gastrointestinal ecosystem related to beneficial health effects. These bacteria also provide desirable flavours in dairy and non-dairy fermented food products. Advances in conventional methods with the help of “omics” led to new possibilities. This chapter deals with the recent achievements of different omics tools for the comprehensive analysis of fermented foods, mostly involving LAB related to fermentation, functional foods and probiotics. These approaches are beneficial for the screening and selection of LAB with culture-independent techniques to evaluate their function in fermentation and flavour development in fermented food products. We highlight the potential for transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics and metabolomics to guide efforts in the optimization of food fermentation.