MPK | HISTORY OF MICROBIOLOGY

 

History of microbiology

Long before microorganisms were known, foods such as leavened bread, fermented milk, and beverages such as wine and beer were made. The manufacturers then did not know or understand the process, and their work was by hit and miss.

 In the S. XIX, thanks to the pioneering work of the father of Microbiology, Louis Pasteur, it is possible to demonstrate the direct association between microorganisms and the production and deterioration of food, and between microorganisms and the diseases suffered by man. Within the next 70 or more years, scientists were able to determine that a large number of microorganisms caused food borne illness. That would be the beginning of Food Microbiology, and its progress would be made possible by the contribution made by the Pasteur Institute of Lille (France), by the CDC of Atlanta (USA), the Center for Industrial Scientific Research, in Australia , Britain's Institute for Food and Meat Research, and hundreds of Microbiology departments at Universities around the world.

However, and until about 50 years ago, despite having knowledge of the important role that food had in the spread of certain diseases, Food Microbiology was considered as part of General Microbiology, and thus the Microbiology of fermented products was He taught in the faculties of Agronomy, the pathogens that caused diseases were studied in the schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the analyzes and investigations were carried out in laboratories and government institutions.