ABSTRACT
Food insecurity due to poor access to adequate safe nutritious and healthy foods is a perennial problem in Africa. Poor-quality diets impair physical growth and cognitive development leading to stunting. Poverty is a major cause of malnutrition, and diseases may further complicate the situation. Fermentation is a proven method of adding value to foods, nutritionally; extending shelf life of foods; diversifying foods; and eliminating toxic substances in foods. Fermentation also promotes food safety through the diverse array of metabolites (organic acids, alcohol, bacteriocins, diacetyl, antibiotics, etc.) it produces. Many African fermented foods are underutilized. A lot of food crops require the input of controlled and standardized fermentation to improve their potentials for providing nourishment and additional health benefits to humans. This chapter outlines the traditional practices involved in the production of several fermented underutilized foods in Africa (green leafy vegetables, animal products, roots and tubers, legumes, cereals, fruits and beverages). The chapter is dedicated only to the foods that have received very little or no research attention and yet have immense potentials for combating malnutrition. The fermented products; microorganisms associated with their natural fermentation (if they are known), and the regions where such fermentations are practiced have been documented. The potentials of several underutilized foods for biotechnological transformation into fermented foods that will make significant contributions to food security fermented foods are highlighted. The development of improved packaging and technologies for upgrading indigenous fermented foods is as important as the development and application of biotechnologies to diversify and improve the health benefits of underutilized fermented foods.
