# The Effect of Effective Microorganisms on the Quality of Potato Chips and French Fries
## 1 Introduction  
Continuous and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides causes ecological and health hazards, and it also worsens the physicochemical condition of the soil, causing a decrease in yields [1]. Organic sources play an important role in improving soil fertility and crop productivity. Recently, effective microorganism technology has been used in agriculture and forestry. This technology is completely natural and environmentally friendly. The products of this technology contain photosynthetic lactic acid bacteria, fermenta, and products that arise as a result of the metabolism of these fermenta and bacteria (enzymes, vitamins, etc.) [2]. Microorganisms metabolize organic matter, accumulating humus substances, which lead to the mineralization of organic compounds,thanks to which they re-circulate elements necessary for plant production. The technology of effective microorganisms (EMs) was developed in the 1970s at Ryukyus University, Okinawa, Japan. EMs comes in a liquid form that consists of naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms such as: lactic acid bacteria, actinomycetes, yeast, and photosynthetic bacteria [3; 4; 5]. The advent of multicellular technology of beneficial anaerobic and aerobic microorganisms is now gaining popularity due to its environmentally friendly nature. This effective microorganism (EM) technology uses naturally occurring microorganisms that are able to cleanse and enliven nature. Applications of EMs using a formula known as Effective Microbial Activated Solution (EMAS) have been researched in Japan, China, Malaysia, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic etc., depending on scale, location, physical and geographic conditions, with the main goal of improving and improving water, soil, and food quality [3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12]. Atmospheric nitrogen-fixing bacteria play the most important role in this process, converting non-digestible forms of nitrogen into a form available to plants. microorganisms contribute significantly to the improvement of soil structure. The mucus substances they produce stick to humus and mineral particles, creating a lumpy structure [13]. Microorganisms also produce bioactive material useful for plants, such as hormones and growth stimulants, which trigger cell division. In the group of biopreparations, the best known and most commonly used in agricultural practice are vaccines containing bacteria (rhizobia), which bind atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with the roots of legumes [13; 14]. The technology of producing these vaccines involves collecting a collection of various strains of microorganisms and controlling their purity and quality (symbiotic effectiveness), which is a multi-stage process. In Poland, the consumption of \"fast food\" products, which are rich in fat and include French fries (FF) and potato chips (PC), has increased significantly in recent years. Bearing in mind the health problem of overweight and obesity, we should look for ways to reduce the fat content of fried foods, including FF. Potato cultivation technologies can modify both the chemical composition of tubers and the quality of products obtained from them; however, there are no scientific reports on whether and to what extent these technologies, especially EM technologies, modify the quality characteristics of potato tubers, which determine their processing value [15]. Potatoes for food processing, especially for PC and FF, should be round to oval in shape and 40-75 mm in size. A particularly important parameter is the even distribution of reducing sugars on the surface of the cut tuber. Potatoes accumulating sugars around the vascular bundles or in the stolon or top part should not be processed into refined products [15; 16; 17]. In the case of FF production, tubers of oblong and oval shape, with a length according to classes: over 75 mm and over 90 mm, are the most desirable. An important feature is the even distribution of sugars in the tubers, because the so-called sugar end effect (brown FF ends) may not appear until after the second frying stage.