Application of Metabolic Engineering in Industrial Fermentative Process

Fermentation technology is an integral part of the food industry which offers a great variety of inexpensive but healthy food products for human consumption. These products include both microbial biomass and the primary and secondary metabolites of microbial metabolism. Industrial fermentation has been greatly aided by the application of metabolic engineering that applies metabolic models and genetic engineering for targeted modification of existing metabolic pathways or introduction of new metabolic pathways for industrial strain development or strain improvement. The ultimate goal is to reduce cost, increase product yield and improve the quality of the desired product. In this chapter, recent progress made in industrial strain development through application of metabolic engineering for fermentative production of food products is discussed, with particular reference to some most commonly used microorganisms.