Pasteur's work on fermentation later led to his development of the germ theory of disease, which put the concept of spontaneous generation to rest.[1] Although the fermentation process had been used extensively throughout history prior to the origin of Pasteur's prevailing theories, the underlying biological and chemical processes were not fully understood. In the contemporary, fermentation is used in the production of various alcoholic beverages, foodstuffs, and medications.[2][3]