Bread is a food that is commonly recognized as a very convenient type of food, but it is also easily prone to microbial attack. As a result of bread spoilage, a significant economic loss occurs to both consumers and producers. For years, the bakery industry has sought to identify treatments that make bread safe and with an extended shelf-life to address this economic and safety concern, including replacing harmful chemical preservatives. New frontiers, on the other hand, have recently been explored. Alternative methods of bread preservation, such as microbial fermentation, utilization of plant and animal derivatives, nanofibers, and other innovative technologies, have yielded promising results. This review summarizes numerous research findings regarding the bio-preservation of bread and suggests potential applications of these techniques. Among these techniques, microbial fermentation using lactic acid bacteria strains and yeast has drawn significant interest nowadays because of their outstanding antifungal activity and shelf-life extending capacity. For example, bread slices with Lactobacillus plantarum LB1 and Lactobacillus rossiae LB5 inhibited fungal development for up to 21 days with the lowest contamination score. Moreover, various essential oils and plant extracts, such as lemongrass oil and garlic extracts, demonstrated promising results in reducing fungal growth on bread and other bakery products. In addition, different emerging bio-preservation strategies such as the utilization of whey, nanofibers, active packaging, and modified atmospheric packaging have gained considerable interest in recent days.
Keywords: active packaging; antifungal activity; bakery products; bio-preservatives; microbial fermentation; mold spoilage; shelf-life.