Bioconversion of Agricultural and Food Wastes to Vinegar

Abstract

Agricultural residues and fruit/food wastes are a curse to the environment but this can also play an important role in meeting the growing needs for energy, value-added chemicals, and food security problems. Vinegar is an acidic liquid whose major component is acetic acid and consists of different organic acids and bioactive compounds. Vinegar is a substance produced by the acetic acid bacteria Acetobacter and Gluconobacter that has a 4% acetic acid content. For the efficient biological production of acetic acid, a variety of renewable substrates are used, including agro and food, dairy, and kitchen wastes. This reduces waste and lowers environmental pollution. There are different types of traditional vinegar available all over the world and have many applications. Vinegar can be made either naturally, through alcoholic and then acetic fermentation, or artificially, in laboratories. This chapter emphasizes the production and biotransformation of agricultural and fruit wastes into vinegar and the genetic manipulations done on microorganisms to utilize a wide range of substrates and achieve maximum product titer.