An unstructured mathematical model is presented for lactic acid fermentation based on the energy balance. The proposed model reflects the energy metabolic state and then predicts the cell growth, lactic acid production, and glucose consumption rates by relating the above rates with the energy metabolic rate. Fermentation experiments were conducted under various initial lactic acid concentrations of 0, 30, 50, 70, and 90 g/l. Also, a genetic algorithm was used for further optimization of the model parameters and included the operations of coding, initialization, hybridization, mutation, decoding, fitness calculation, selection, and reproduction exerted on individuals (or chromosomes) in a population. The simulation results showed a good fit between the model prediction and the experimental data. The genetic algorithm proved to be useful for model parameter optimization, suggesting wider applications in the field of biological engineering.