Exploring cocoa bean fermentation mechanisms by kinetic modelling

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Biochemical Engineering
• Mathematical Modeling

Background:

• Cocoa bean fermentation lacks standardization, unlike other food industry processes.
• A mechanistic understanding is crucial for cocoa bean quality control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance an existing mathematical model of cocoa bean fermentation by incorporating additional biochemical mechanisms.
• To evaluate the capacity of model variants to describe experimental data and discriminate fermentation protocols.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 32 model variants, incorporating five additional biochemical mechanisms into a baseline model.
• Evaluation against 23 experimental fermentation datasets.
• Interpretation of results based on mechanism success and parameter-based discrimination of protocols.

Main Results:

• Support found for fructose consumption by lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid production by yeast.
• Model parameters demonstrated sensitivity to cultivar, temperature control, and fermentation vessel material (steel vs. wood).
• Mathematical modeling proved effective in interpreting fermentation data, offering an alternative to chemical fingerprinting.

Conclusions:

• Mathematical modeling provides valuable insights into cocoa bean fermentation mechanisms.
• Model parameters can be used to infer empirical fermentation conditions, aiding quality control.
• This approach offers a pathway to standardize and optimize cocoa bean fermentation processes.