Minimizing biotic and abiotic feedstock variability in lactic acid production from food waste as a key step for chain elongation

This article focused on investigating an operational strategy that enhances lactic acid production in acidogenic stage investigated the biotic and abiotic variability of household Food Waste (FW) and demonstrate that lactic fermentation can serve as unifying process, facilitating the convergence of both product spectra and microbial communities regardless of feedstock heterogeneity. To this end, household FW was collected in five distinct batches from 12 to 20 household. After removing inert and non edible materials, each batch was homogenized using a semi industrial blender, to create a uniform paste.All fermentations were carried out with the endogenous microbiota naturally present in food waste, without the addition of external inoculum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to thoroughly investigate the biotic and abiotic variability spectrum of household FW and to demonstrate that lactic fermentation can serve as an equalizer, facilitating the convergence of both product spectra and microbial communities regardless of feedstock heterogeneity.