Food fermentation in space: Opportunities and challenges

Space exploration is expanding, which demands new technologies and enables new scientific questions. Food, as a bridge between disciplines, can bring these fundamental and applied goals together. Here, we investigate whether food fermentation in space is possible and if so, how it compares with fermentation on Earth. We fermented a miso, a traditional Japanese condiment, on the International Space Station over 30 days and compared it with two earthbound controls. Based on environmental metadata, shotgun metagenomics, whole-genome sequencing, untargeted metabolomics, colorimetry, and sensory analysis, we found that overall, the space miso is recognizable as a miso, indicating fermentation in space is possible. We also found some key microbiological and sensory differences in the space miso, which suggest distinctive features of the space environment. These findings can be harnessed to create more flavorful, nourishing foods for long-term space missions and invite further research questions across science, health, technology, and society.

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Publication Details

Journal
iScience
Published
2025-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112189
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Spaceflight effects on biology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.66

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Food fermentation in space: Opportunities and challenges

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Food fermentation in space: Opportunities and challenges

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article en
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Abstract

Space exploration is expanding, which demands new technologies and enables new scientific questions. Food, as a bridge between disciplines, can bring these fundamental and applied goals together. Here, we investigate whether food fermentation in space is possible and if so, how it compares with fermentation on Earth. We fermented a miso, a traditional Japanese condiment, on the International Space Station over 30 days and compared it with two earthbound controls. Based on environmental metadata, shotgun metagenomics, whole-genome sequencing, untargeted metabolomics, colorimetry, and sensory analysis, we found that overall, the space miso is recognizable as a miso, indicating fermentation in space is possible. We also found some key microbiological and sensory differences in the space miso, which suggest distinctive features of the space environment. These findings can be harnessed to create more flavorful, nourishing foods for long-term space missions and invite further research questions across science, health, technology, and society.

iScienceVol. 28(4)
University of Copenhagen (DK), Harvard University (US), Basque Culinary Center (ES), Novo Nordisk Foundation (DK), University of Oxford (GB), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Novo Nordisk, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Novo Nordisk Fonden
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Spaceflight effects on biology
4.66
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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