Table 1.

Some functional microorganisms used as commercial starters in food fermentation (amended and compiled from references: Mogensen et al., 2002; Bernardeau et al., 2006; Bourdichon et al., 2012; Thapa and Tamang, 2015).

Group	Genera/species	Product/application(s)
Bacteria
	Acetobacter aceti subsp. aceti	Vinegar
	A. pasteurianus subsp. pasteurianus	Vinegar, cocoa
	Bacilllus acidopulluluticus	Pullulanases (food additive)
	B. coagulans	Cocoa; glucose isomerase (food additive), fermented soybeans
	B. licheniformis	Protease (food additive)
	B. subtilis	Fermented soybeans, protease, glycolipids, riboflavin-B2 (food additive)
	Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, B. breve	Fermented milks with probiotic properties; common in European fermented milks
	Brachybacterium alimentarium	Gruyère and Beaufort cheese
	Brevibacterium flavum	Malic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, monosodium glutamate (food additives)
	Corynebacterium ammoniagenes	Cheese ripening
	Enterobacter aerogenes	Bread fermentation
	Enterococcus durans	Cheese and sourdough fermentation
	E. faecium	Soybean, dairy, meat, vegetables
	Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. ozaenae	Tempe; production of vitamin B12
	Lactobacillus acetototolerans	Ricotta cheese, vegetables
	L. acidophilus	Fermented milks, probiotics, vegetables
	L. alimentarius	Fermented sausages; ricotta; meat, fish
	L. brevis	Bread fermentation; wine; dairy
	L. buchneri	Malolactic fermentation in wine; sourdough
	L. casei subsp. casei	Dairy starter; cheese ripening; green table olives
	L. delbruecki subsp. bulgaricus	Yogurt and other fermented milks, mozarella
	L. fermentum	Fermented milks, sourdough, urease (food additive)
	L. ghanensis	Cocoa
	L. helveticus	Starter for cheese; cheese ripening, vegetables
	L. hilgardii	Malolactic fermentation of wine
	L. kefiri	Fermented milk (kefir), reduction of bitter taste in citrus juice
	L. kimchii	Kimchi
	L. oeni	Wine
	L. paracasei subsp. paracasei	Cheese fermentation, probiotic cheese, probiotics, wine, meat
	L. pentosus	Meat fermentation and biopreservation of meat; green table olives; dairy, fruits, wine
	L. plantarum subsp. plantarum	Fermentation of vegetables, malolactic fermentation, green table olives; dairy, meat
	L. sakei subsp. sakei	Fermentation of cheese and meat products; beverages
	L. salivarious subsp. salivarius	Cheese fermentation
	L. sanfranciscensis	Sourdough
	L. versmoldensis	Dry sausages
	Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis	Dairy starter, Nisin (protective culture)
	L. lactis, L. mesenteroides subsp. Cremoris, L. mesenteroides subsp. Dextranicum, L. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides	Dairy starter
	Oenococcus oeni	Malolactic fermentation of wine
	Pediococcus acidilactici	Meat fermentation and biopreservation of meat; cheese starter
	P. pentosaceus	Meat fermentation and biopreservation of meat
	Propionibacterium acidipropionici	Meat fermentation and biopreservation of meat
	P. arabinosum	Cheese fermentation; probiotics
	P. freudenreichii subsp. freudenreichii	Cheese fermentation (Emmental cheese starter)
	Streptococcus natalensis	Natamycin (food additive)
	Weisella ghanensis	Cocoa
	Zymomonas mobilis subsp. mobilis	Beverages
Yeasts
	Candida famata	Fermentation of blue vein cheese and biopreservation of citrus; meat
	C. guilliermondii	Citric acid (food additive)
	C. krusei	Kefir fermentation; sourdough fermentation
	Debaryomyces hansenii	Ripening of smear cheeses; meat
	Geotrichum candidum	Ripening of soft and semisoft cheeses or fermented milks; meat
	Kluyveromyces marxianus	Cheese ripening; lactase (food additive)
	S. bayanus	Kefir fermentation; juice and wine fermentation
	S. cerevisiae	Beer, bread, invertase (food additive)
	S. cerevisiae subsp. boulardii	Used as probiotic culture
	S. florentius	Kefir fermentation
	S. pastorianus	Beer
	S. sake	Sake fermentation
	S. unisporus	Kefir fermentation
	Schizosaccharomyces pombe	Wine
	Zygosaccharomyces rouxii	Soy sauce
Filamentous moulds
	Aspergillus flavus	α-amylases (food additive)
	A. niger	Beverages; industrial production of citric acid; amyloglucosidases, pectinase, cellulase, glucose oxidase, protease (food additives)
	A. oryzae, A. sojae	Soy sauce, beverages; α-amylases, amyloglucosidase, lipase (food additives)
	Penicillium camemberti	White mold cheeses (camembert type)
	P. notatum	Glucose oxidases (food additive)
	P. roqueforti	Blue mold cheeses
	Rhizopus oligosporus	Tempe fermentation
	R. oryzae	Soy sauce, koji