The production is mainly based on anaerobic fermentations followed by down stream leading to either frozen or freeze-dried products. In order to obtain a commercial process a holistic view is necessary.

Focus will be on problems encountered in the anaerobic fermentation of bacteria used in starter cultures in food industry. However, both up- and down-stream will be presented and discussed with a focus on present procedures in large-scale production.

Generalisations will be attempted, but since the lecture is on a heterogeneous group of organisms this is not always possible.

Finally, the trends and future prospects will be discussed.