The Role of Traditional Fermentation Knowledge in Shaping Food Safety and Nutritional Outcomes: A Biocultural Analysis in North Central Nigeria

Traditional fermentation practices represent accumulated biocultural knowledge systems that shape food safety, preservation, and nutritional quality in Nigerian communities. The intersection of microbiology, cultural anthropology, and nutrition science offers a rich theoretical space for understanding how indigenous fermentation knowledge functions and evolves. This study conducted a biocultural analysis of traditional fermentation knowledge and its role in shaping food safety and nutritional outcomes in North Central Nigeria, with fieldwork in Benue, Kogi, and Nasarawa States. An ethnographic mixed-methods design combined participant observation, semi-structured interviews with 80 fermentation knowledge holders, and laboratory analysis of 45 traditionally fermented food samples. Microbiological characterisation of fermented products was conducted using culture-based and 16S rRNA metagenomics sequencing. Nutritional composition was assessed, and food safety parameters including mycotoxin levels and pathogen presence were evaluated. Cultural transmission pathways for fermentation knowledge were mapped using social network analysis. Results identified twelve distinct traditional fermentation systems, several of which had not been previously documented. Beneficial lactic acid bacteria dominated the microbiome of seven fermentation systems, with functional anti-mycotoxigenic properties identified in three. Traditional knowledge holders demonstrated sophisticated empirical understanding of fermentation indicators linked to safety and quality. Knowledge transmission was primarily matrilineal and at risk of intergenerational disruption. The study advances biocultural nutrition theory and the application of food ethnomicrobiology in African research. Keywords: traditional fermentation, biocultural analysis, food safety, North Central Nigeria, ethnomicrobiology