Microbes in Food?!

Germs in your food would usually make you sick, right? You might be surprised to hear that not all bacteria are so dangerous! In fact, certain species are useful in food production. Which foods would those be? Some widely known examples are cheese, yogurt, and bread!
To create cheese, a variety of bacteria - from the Lactic Acid family - is added to milk. They are named this way because they eat lactose, a sugar present in milk, and produce lactic acid. Starter cultures - bacteria added at the beginning - are useful for fending off bad bacteria and introducing some flavor. After the starter culture is added, you can add more bacteria to make it taste the way you’d like!

Yogurt is essentially a mixture of milk and two bacteria: Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. These two also consume lactose and produce lactic acid. S. thermophilus is more active in the beginning, and L. bulgaricus takes over as the milk becomes more acidic, or lower in pH. Lactic acid helps thicken the yogurt, and gives it a sharper taste.

The basic ingredients for bread are sugar, flour, water, and a yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The yeast uses sugar and flour as its energy source and grows during the process- this helps the dough rise. When you bake the dough, the heat kills the yeast and we are left with the bread!

These processes are done in controlled environments with just the right ingredients. While some bacteria are good, others are not so safe, so please remember to wash your hands before you eat!

Picture Source: iso22000resourcecenter.blogspot.com