Brewer's Saccharomyces yeast biomass: characteristics and potential applications

Saccharomyces yeast biomass is the second major by-product from brewing industry. It can be of value as a raw material with different uses, however, it is still underutilized, mostly, for swine and ruminant feed. This review aims to give a brief overview on applications for this agro-industrial by-product as a source of nutrients for human and fish nutrition, microbial growth, production and industrial use of brewer's yeast components and highlight the needs for further investigations and research, especially in the areas of production of ingredients for functional foods and the use of brewer's yeast as agents of detoxifying effluents containing heavy metals.