What is fermentation? In biochemical terms, Standbury (1984) defined fermentation as the process of catabolism of organic compounds that generate energy. This fermentation process has been used in many fields, such as food preservation, biomass, enzyme production, waste management, antibiotics etc. It is true that nowadays fermentation products cannot be separated from our life, especially from fermented foods. The development of the fermentation industry began before 1900 with the production of fermented drinks and foods (Standbury, 1984). Some famous fermentation products are bread, cheese, yogurt and many more. Law, Abu Bakar, Mat Hashim, and Abdul Hamid (2011) concluded that fermentation is one of the oldest and most widely used food preservation methods in households, small- to large-scale food industries as well as large enterprises. Fermented foods generally retain pleasant flavor, aroma, texture, improved nutritional values, and good keeping quality under ambient conditions. (p.1) Furthermore, fermented food itself is interpreted by Campbell-Platt (1987) "as those foods which have been subjected to the action of microorganisms or enzymes so that desirable biochemical changes cause significant changes to the food." (As cited in Sahlin, 1999, p.5) East Asian countries are famous for a variety of traditional food fermentation products. For example, Korea with kimchi, Japan with natto, China with soy sauce and India paneer. In Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, tapai, tempeh, jeruk, budu, cincalok and tempoyak are well known as local fermented food products. Malaysian Fermented Foods As mentioned above, Malaysia has many local fermented food products. The substrate...half the paper...-crop losses. Fermentation of fish is a promising way to reduce post-harvest losses in the fisheries sector (Ismael, n.d.). Budu, cincalok and belacan are the example of marine fermented product in Malaysia. However, the production of these products is still limited. Most fish fermentation industries in Malaysia are still small-scale and traditional. Currently, the market for Malaysian fermented fish products continues to meet local demand. By way of comparison, Thailand is considered the largest exporter of fish sauce in the world with over $13 million in annual exports to the United States, Japan, and Australia (Brillantes, 1999 cited in Sim, Chye, Anton, n.d.). Sim et al. (n.d.) proposed that the limitation of local Malaysian fish sauce producer is due to long fermentation time, limited technology and skills causing poor quality control of products.