World Food Safety Day (WFSD) 2024, which takes place every year on 7 June, will be celebrated for the sixth time in 2024, thereby demonstrating its global importance. This year's theme is “Food Safety: Prepare for the Unexpected”. Food safety incidents can range from minor events to major international crises, such as a power cut at home, food poisoning in a local restaurant, a voluntary withdrawal of contaminated products by a manufacturer, an outbreak originating from imported products, or a natural disaster.

To further discuss research related to World Food Safety Day, Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2076-3417) has collected open access academic research on the topic of food microbiology, food components and nutrition, food technology and processing, and food storage and preservation. Accordingly, we aim to share new scientific knowledge about food.

1. “A Review of the Relationship between Gut Microbiome and Obesity”
by Dorottya Zsálig, Anikó Berta, Vivien Tóth, Zoltán Szabó, Klára Simon, Mária Figler, Henriette Pusztafalvi and Éva Polyák
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(1), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13010610  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/1/610

2. “Insight into the Impact of Food Processing and Culinary Preparations on the Stability and Content of Plant Alkaloids Considered as Natural Food Contaminants”
by Natalia Casado, Gema Casado-Hidalgo, Lorena González-Gómez, Sonia Morante-Zarcero and Isabel Sierra
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1704; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031704  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/3/1704

3. “Comparison of the Spreadability of Butter and Butter Substitutes”
by Małgorzata Ziarno, Dorota Derewiaka, Anna Florowska and Iwona Szymańska
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 2600; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042600
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/4/2600

4. “Quality Assessment of Banana Ripening Stages by Combining Analytical Methods and Image AnalysisFCGFD”
by Vassilia J. Sinanoglou, Thalia Tsiaka, Konstantinos Aouant, Elizabeth Mouka, Georgia Ladika, Eftichia Kritsi, Spyros J. Konteles, Alexandros-George Ioannou, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis, Irini F. Strati et al.
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 3533; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13063533
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/6/3533

5. “Plant-Based Fish Analogs—A Review”
by Malgorzata Nowacka, Magdalena Trusinska, Paulina Chraniuk, Jagoda Piatkowska, Anna Pakulska, Karolina Wisniewska, Anna Wierzbicka, Katarzyna Rybak and Katarzyna Pobiega
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4509; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074509
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/7/4509

6. “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Affecting the Color of Fresh Beef Meat—Comprehensive Review”
by Alejandro Poveda-Arteaga, Johannes Krell, Monika Gibis, Volker Heinz, Nino Terjung and Igor Tomasevic
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4382; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074382  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/7/4382

7. “Edible Packaging: A Technological Update for the Sustainable Future of the Food Industry”
by Surya Sasikumar Nair, Joanna Trafiałek and Wojciech Kolanowski
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(14), 8234; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13148234  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/14/8234

8. “Suitability of Apples Flesh from Different Cultivars for Vacuum Impregnation Process”
by Marcin Kidoń, Elżbieta Radziejewska-Kubzdela, Róża Biegańska-Marecik and Przemysław Łukasz Kowalczewski
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1528; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031528  
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/3/1528

9. “Characterization of the Aroma Profile of Commercial Prosecco Sparkling Wines”
by Davide Slaghenaufi, Giovanni Luzzini, Matteo Borgato, Anita Boscaini, Andrea Dal Cin, Vittorio Zandonà and Maurizio Ugliano
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 3609; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13063609
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/6/3609