Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1519547
This article is part of the Research Topic Probiotics and Nutrient Bioavailability: Enhancing Gut Health to Combat Malnutrition View all 4 articles

A Review on the Microbiology of Ethiopian Traditional Fermented Beverage Products

Provisionally accepted
Teklemichael Tesfay Tesfay Teklemichael Tesfay Tesfay 1,2*Guesh Mulaw Mulaw Guesh Mulaw Mulaw 1,2Trhas Gebregziabher Trhas Gebregziabher 1,2
  • 1 Aksum University, Aksum, Ethiopia
  • 2 College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Aksum University, Aksum, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Traditional fermented beverages are drinks produced locally on the basis of ethnic knowledge and consumed nearby the locality of production. Ethiopia is a country where a wide variety of traditional fermented beverages are prepared and consumed. Tella, borde, shamita, korefe, cheka, tej, booka, grawa, areki, and keribo are among the traditional fermented beverages in Ethiopia. This review paper highlights the fermentation process and nutritional value of traditional fermented beverages, microorganisms involved in the traditionally ferreted beverages, the nutritional value and shelf-life of fermented beverages, as well as the bioavailability and safety by collecting recent research articles. These traditional fermented beverages significantly enhance health due to the presence of bioactive compounds and their nutritional value relatively greater than those of nonfermented beverages. The fermentation byproducts of yeast and Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) increase the acidity of beverages and are crucial for maintaining the quality and characteristics of fermented beverages. It also helps to reduce the amount of toxins and pathogens in food. Similarly, fermented foods contain probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that help the body to digest food and absorb nutrients. The fermented foods and beverages are important in preventing non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal tissues, immune disorders, and cancer. Overall, the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge and tradition on Ethiopian fermented beverages.

    Keywords: bioavailability, Fermentation, Nutritional value, Traditional beverage, Ethiopia

    Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Tesfay, Mulaw and Gebregziabher. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Teklemichael Tesfay Tesfay, Aksum University, Aksum, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.