Although the developed world can claim to have elevated the production of some fermented foods to a large industrial and technologically sophisticated level, it is still true that even in Europe, there are regions where products are manufactured in a traditional localised ‘cottage’ or ‘farmhouse’ manner. The concept of using backslopping is still practised for some products including a range of cheeses and fermented meats and vegetables. In fact, many of these products are now considered to be of a premium type because they retain flavour and aroma characteristics that many would claim have all but disappeared in the ‘factory’ manufactured products. However, it appears to be inevitable and even ironical that as such products become more popular and as demand grows, the only way in which the expanding market can be satisfied is to upscale the manufacturing process where the use of starter cultures becomes almost essential. This often has the consequence of diminishing the uniqueness of the original product and the loss of those very characteristics that originally made the product popular. One of the challenges facing scientists and technologists in the future will undoubtedly be to allow the large-scale production of fermented foods without losing the unique flavour and other traits assoc ated with the traditional products from which they are derived.