Nothing to Something in Industrial Biotechnology

Malaysia is a food lover’s paradise and Malaysians enjoy the diverse culinary heritage of its multicultural society. In the true spirit of Malaysian hospitality we cook, serve and we do not want the embarrassment of food shortage during celebration. As a result, a lot of food often goes waste. Generally, Malaysians waste 15,000 tonnes of food every day and this food waste end up in landfills. According to National Solid Waste Management Department, the average waste production by Malaysian increased by approximately 5.18% from 38,563 to 49,670 tons/waste/day (JPSPN, 2021). Although Malaysia’s waste recycling rate does increase simultaneously from 11.5 to 22% for 2020 but Malaysia is still in an alarming state of the available waste (JPSPN, 2021).

Hazaka, 2021

Addressing these concerns, the Government seeks to rapid up the recycling rate of household waste under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP). This 12MP is a 5 year project where it aims to implement a green, clean and resilient nation. The generated waste will be managed via different approaches like source separation as well as enhancing the reduce, reuse and recycle (3R) program. These efforts are in line with the National Cleanliness Policy 2019 in order to minimise waste pollution as well as to promote the circular economy and waste-to-wealth initiatives.

Large amount of food waste not only leads to great economic loss but also impacting the environment adversely. Thus, clear strategies are required to limit the amount of waste produced and application of fermentation by different microorganism to produce several value-added products. The food waste can be treated by various approaches such as soli-state fermentation, submerged fermentation as well as anaerobic fermentation. Fermentation of starchy material by Clostridium and Saccharomyces cerevisiae resulted biobutanol and bioethanol respectively. Initially, the polysaccharide need to undergo pre-treatment in order to break down the polymer chains into glucose monomers which are subsequently metabolized by the microbe. Different types of biofuels can be achieved depending on the provided substrate. Besides biofuels, microbial fermentation of food waste able to recover several added-value products like bioactive compounds and pigments. Selection of most suitable microorganism and media are crucial element in fermentation to ensure low-to-zero cost process.

In conclusion, microbial fermentation of food waste is an interesting approach where it incorporates advanced fermentation technology to transform nothing (food waste) to something.

Words by:
Dr. Chia Vi Vien
Lecturer, School of Bioscience,
MAHSA University

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