Abstract: Microbial fermentation is a key unit operation in food production. With growing insights into the biological effects of magnetic fields, magnetic field-assisted fermentation technology has been increasingly applied in food production and processing to enhance key process metrics, including the fermentation cycle, product yield, and physicochemical properties of food materials. Currently, magnetic fields, as a non-thermal processing technique, have been extensively investigated in various areas such as food fermentation, storage, and extraction. Magnetic fields affect quality attributes of fermented foods primarily by regulating the permeability of microbial cell membranes, ion channel functions, and the activity of their endogenous and exogenous enzymes. This paper reviews the current state of magnetic field application in food fermentation from various perspectives including affecting product yield, enhancing product quality, improving food functional properties, and modulating the fermentation cycle. It also discusses the challenges and future trends in magnetic field-assisted food fermentation, providing a reference for further research on the application of magnetic field technology in food fermentation.

Key words: magnetic field-assisted; microbial fermentation; mechanisms; non-thermal processing; biological effects