Unlocking the biotechnological potential of traditional fermented food microbiomes

Fermented foods are a globally important source of dietary microbes, cultural heritage, and functional diversity, yet current microbiome research captures only a narrow fraction of this richness. Public sequencing datasets are heavily skewed toward a limited set of regions and fermentation types, leaving vast areas of geographic, substrate, and process diversity underrepresented. This imbalance constrains the discovery of novel microbial species, enzymes, and biosynthetic capacities, and risks accelerating homogenization through standardized starter cultures. We argue that coordinated, ethically grounded global efforts integrating metagenomics, multi-omics, standardized metadata, and biobanking are urgently needed to document, preserve, and responsibly leverage fermented food microbial diversity for sustainable food systems and innovation.