Individuals today are giving more importance to food safety, shelf life, and the use of artificial preservatives. To respond to that need for naturally occurring alternatives, researchers are studying a new class of compounds called postbiotics — tiny byproducts of beneficial bacteria produced by fermenting or through the breakdown of the bacteria themselves. Unlike live bacteria (probiotics) or prebiotic foods that serve as bacterially digestible carbohydrates (bacteria food), postbiotics are not living but still very powerful and effective and can easily kill unwanted microbes.
This study explores how postbiotics — such as organic acids, antimicrobial peptides, and enzymes — can naturally preserve food by suppressing or slowing the development of disease- or spoilage-causing bacteria. Because postbiotics are stable, safe, and do not require the live bacteria to function, they can be used more easily in a wide range of food products than live probiotics.
The article also refers to how postbiotics are produced, how they work at the microbial level, and why they are potential food preservatives. These natural molecules not only make shelf life extension possible but can improve food safety and quality — all without employing synthetic chemicals.
In short, this research suggests that postbiotics have the potential to revolutionize how we keep food fresh and safe, using nature’s own weapons to replace artificial preservatives.
Full text: Bishwambhar Mishra, Awdhesh Kumar Mishra, Yugal Kishore Mohanta, Rajasri Yadavalli, Dinesh Chand Agrawal, Himavarshini Parvath Reddy, Rithika Gorrepati, C Nagendranatha Reddy, Sanjeeb Kumar Mandal, Mohammad Zaki Shamim & Jibanjyoti Panda, Postbiotics: the new horizons of microbial functional bioactive compounds in food preservation and security, Food Production, Processing and Nutrition 6, 28 (2024), https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-023-00200-w.