Fermented foods, a rediscovery from a health perspective

There is ferment in the world of food & beverage. It is the effect of the 'rediscovery' of fermentation, which is behind many of the emerging products of recent years (such as kefir and kombucha) and many 'ingredients' (such as probiotics) used to develop the beneficial effects of functional foods. Two worlds running fast. According to the research company Statista, the global sell-out of fermented foods will rise in eight years from the current $576 billion to $989 billion, while fermented ingredients will rise in three years from $35 billion to $49 billion.

But how did the most ancient technique for food preservation, which was already witnessed 10,000 years ago, become the one on which the food&beverage industry is betting for the future? It all started with the increased knowledge of the microbiota and gut-brain links and the innovative applications of molecular techniques for the analysis and study of fermented foods, which is bringing their characteristics and potential to light.

So, if for centuries fermentation was used to prolong the shelf life of food and make it safer to eat, its ability to improve the nutritional and health value of food and to affect the texture and taste of food is now being enhanced and explored. Not least because, depending on the microorganisms involved in fermentation and the way it is conducted, different flavours and products are obtained, as has been done for centuries in the East. And certainly the interest in Japanese and Korean cuisine has also made miso and kimchi familiar to Italians, who consider fermented foods to be healthier (55% of responses) and believe that fermentation increases the taste of food, reveals theTaste Tomorrow report by Puratos. "The market is changing because there is a search for distinctive and differentiating flavours, which we satisfy by searching our 'collection' of strains for the most suitable ones to use in each product," explains Mara Bernasconi, sales director Italy dairy of Sacco System, an Italian biotech group that produces milk enzymes, microorganisms, probiotics and enzymes also destined for the food industry. "Italians are particularly demanding, for example kefir must be sweeter and less acidic than the traditional Balkan kefir.

Among the emerging fermented beverages is kombucha, a non-alcoholic tea-based drink launched in the Anglo-Saxon world by a few start-ups, which soon ended up in the orbit of Coca Cola and PepsiCo. In Europe we are only at the beginning but sales are growing fast (+25% per year) to 1.4 million by 2029, Market Data Forecast predicts. In Italy, too, kombucha is booming: it is drunk in bars, where it is also served in alcohol-free cocktails (such as at AffiniDry 0.0, recently opened in the Mercato Centrale in Turin), and is also bought in retail. Investments are flowing in. One million euros have been spent on the plants from which Legend Kombucha, a brand launched in 2021 and which has since doubled its sales volumes year on year. "We aim to reach one million pieces sold in 2025, between retail and e-commerce channels, and to saturate our production capacity by 2026, also ready to expand it through acquisitions," explains Ettore Ravizza, co-founder of Legendary Drink, which has gone from 20 thousand to 300 thousand euros in revenues in four years.

Also making fermentation extremely topical is its role in the development of alternative proteins, with which to make plant-based foods, such as nut-based cheeses or 'equivalent eggs', obtained without chickens. A niche that today is worth 2% of the overall protein market, but will rise to 11% in 2035, according to the Boston Consulting Group. The so-called precision fermentation is also being invested in by food bigwigs, such as the Danone group (which has entered into a partnership with Michelin to create a specialised platform), and those in the nutraceutical sector. 'We have enriched our offer with fermented foods and we want to use them as ingredients also in existing products, acting as pioneers,' says Alessio Romitelli, CEO of Named Group, a leader in consumer healthcare that recently took over LIFe, a company of spontaneously fermented, unpasteurised organic vegetables.