ABSTRACT
The demand for natural flavoring substances has increased sharply in recent years, and tremendous interest has been shown in their production by microorganisms (Berge and Evenhuis 1998; Carina 1995; Schindler and Schmid 1982; Schreiber et al. 1997). Fungal biotransformation of low-cost substrates to flavor and aroma compounds having a high value appears to have great commercial potential. Such compounds have been accepted by the United States Drug Administration (USDA) and by the European Flavour Commission (88/388/EWG 1988; 91/71 EWa and 91/2 EWG 1991) as being natural and falling under the generally regarded as safe (GRAS) category (Janssens et al. 1992; Taylor and Mottram 1996). The flavor products obtained by microbial routes are optically pure, extra-cellular, and suitable for commercial exploitation because of easy down-stream processing and high yields. Extensive reviews on this subject have been published by Demyttenaere (2001); Hagedorn and Kaphammer (1994); Mestri (1994); and Van der Werf et al. (1997). This chapter will deal with the description and discussion on fungal flavors and aromas.
