The approach to study microorganisms in food has changed. In the last few years the field of food fermentations has experienced a very fast development, thanks to the application of methods allowing precise picturing of their microbial ecology. As a consequence, new information is available on the structure and dynamics of the microbial populations taking turns during fermented food production. This is the age when functional genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics are going to shed light on the overall role of bacteria in food ferm- tation, considering also their interactions....