Lactic Acid Bacteria in Functional Foods: From Microbiology to Health Benefits
A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Fermentation for Food and Beverages".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 505
Special Issue Editors
Interests: lactic acid bacteria; fermented foods; bioactive peptides; legumes; probiotics; fermented beverages
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: wine microbiology; bioactive compounds; functional foods; molecular techniques; yeasts; lactic acid bacteria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a widespread bacterial group that has a prominent role in food fermentation. LAB produce organic acids and other metabolites that enhance flavour and aroma development in food and prevent spoilage, increasing product shelf-life. Therefore, they are very useful in many food applications. Together with their technological role, they possess metabolic properties that can improve the nutritional and functional quality of food. Indeed, they can increase nutrient bioavailability, producing health-promoting compounds such as peptides with biological activities, gamma-aminobutyric acid and polysaccharides, and they can act as probiotics. The aim of this Special Issue is to discuss recent developments of the impact of microbial metabolism on the nutritional and functional quality of foods. Topics of interest will include advances in the exploitation of novel LAB strains for the development of fermented plant-based food or by-products with enhanced functional properties. Purely technological studies will be not considered. Due to their growing interest, special attention will be given to studies related to the use of postbiotics. For this Special Issue, we welcome original research articles and reviews of studies that address the scientific questions and research methodologies outlined above.
Dr. Viola Galli
Prof. Lisa Granchi
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- lactic acid bacteria
- plant-based fermented foods
- bioactive compounds
- functional properties
- nutrition
- by-products
- starter cultures
- health benefits
- postbiotics
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
