My training and research experience is in industrial microbiology, where microorganisms are put to work to make a product. Fermentation is an important part of industrial microbiology. Fermentation technology got its origins the first time someone made wine, was perfected in the 1940's with the production of antibiotics, and is the now the primary method of production in the biotechnology industry. Fermentation could be called the staff of life because it gives us the basic food, bread. But how fermentation actually works was not understood until the work of Louis Pasteur in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the research which followed.
Fermentation is the process that produces alcoholic beverages or acidic dairy products.
For a cell, fermentation is a way of getting energy without using oxygen. In general, fermentation involves the breaking down of complex organic substances into simpler ones. The microbial or animal cell obtains energy through glycolysis, splitting a sugar molecule and removing electrons from the molecule. The electrons are then passed to an organic molecule such as pyruvic acid. This results in the formation of a waste product that is excreted from the cell.