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Although acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are commonly found in spontaneous or backslopped fermented foods and beverages, rather limited knowledge about their occurrence and functional role in natural food fermentation ecosystems is available. Not only is their cultivation, isolation, and identification difficult, their cells are often present in a viable but not culturable state. Yet, they are promising starter cultures either to better control known food fermentation processes or to produce novel fermented foods and beverages. This review summarizes the most recent findings on the occurrence and functional role of AAB in natural food fermentation processes such as lambic beer, water kefir, kombucha, and cocoa.

Acetic Acid Bacteria (AAB) have been known for many years, since humans first used them to produce vinegar. AAB serve as biocatalysts in industrial production of, inter alia, acetic acid, dihydroxyacetone, gluconic acid, bacterial cellulose or levan. Apart from the traditional industrial applications of wild strains of AAB, scientists strive to develop novel methods for the production of selected compounds using genetically-modified AAB. The application of such mutants in the industry entails both positive and negative aspects. Modifications of the bacterial genome have a significant effect upon the functioning of the entire cell. This review presents industrial applications of metabolites produced by both wild and genetically-modified strains of AAB. 1. Application of wild strains of AAB in the industry. 2. Application of genetically-modified strains of AAB in the industry. 3. Opinion on GMOs used in industry. 4. Summary