Turmeric, a spice that has long been recognized for its medicinal properties, has received interest from both the medical/scientific world and from culinary enthusiasts, as it is the major source of the polyphenol curcumin. It aids in the management...
Prebiotics are a group of nutrients that are degraded by gut microbiota. Their relationship with human overall health has been an area of increasing interest in recent years. They can feed the intestinal microbiota, and their degradation products are...
A growing global population, combined with factors such as changing socio-demographics, will place increased pressure on the world’s resources to provide not only more but also different types of food. Increased demand for animal-based protein in par...
Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is a common and widely used spice. It is rich in various chemical constituents, including phenolic compounds, terpenes, polysaccharides, lipids, organic acids, and raw fibers. The health benefits of ginger are main...
Population growth combined with increasingly limited resources of arable land and fresh water has resulted in a need for alternative protein sources. Macroalgae (seaweed) and microalgae are examples of under-exploited “crops”. Algae do not compete wi...
While fulfilling the food demand of an increasing population remains a major global concern, more than one-third of food is lost or wasted in postharvest operations. Reducing the postharvest losses, especially in developing countries, could be a sust...
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a widely consumed spice in the world. Garlic contains diverse bioactive compounds, such as allicin, alliin, diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, ajoene, and S-allyl-cysteine. Substantial studies have s...
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19, broadly referred to as “coronavirus”) a global pandemic, while thousands of infections and deaths are reported daily. The current article explores...
Food futurists accept that sustainability-minded humanity will increasingly incorporate insects as alternative protein. The most studied and easily reared species are not necessarily the most sustainable, acceptable, or delicious. Here, we review the...
Alginate is a naturally occurring polysaccharide used in the bio industry. It is mainly derived from brown algae species. Alginate-based edible coatings and films attract interest for improving/maintaining quality and extending the shelf-life of frui...
Flavonoids are a class of natural substances present in plants, fruits, vegetables, wine, bulbs, bark, stems, roots, and tea. Several attempts are being made to isolate such natural products, which are popular for their health benefits. Flavonoids ar...
As a conflict between two major agricultural powers, the Russia–Ukraine war has various negative socioeconomic impacts that are now being felt internationally and might worsen, notably, for global food security. If the war deepens, the food cri...
Mycotoxins are toxic substances that can infect many foods with carcinogenic, genotoxic, teratogenic, nephrotoxic, and hepatotoxic effects. Mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs causes diseases worldwide. The major classes of mycotoxins that are of t...
Meat analogue research and development focuses on the production of sustainable products that recreate conventional meat in its physical sensations (texture, appearance, taste, etc.) and nutritional aspects. Minced products, like burger patties and n...
Today, food safety and quality are some of the main concerns of consumer and health agencies around the world. Our current lifestyle and market globalization have led to an increase in the number of people affected by food poisoning. Foodborne illnes...
The reported protein content of foods depends on the analytical method used for determination, making a direct comparison between studies difficult. The aim of this study was to examine and compare protein analytical methods. Some of these methods re...
Plant-based diets have become popular as a means of reducing the environmental footprint of the diet and promoting human health and animal welfare. Although the percentages of vegetarians and vegans are low compared to omnivores, their numbers have i...
Plant foods are consumed worldwide due to their immense energy density and nutritive value. Their consumption has been following an increasing trend due to several metabolic disorders linked to non-vegetarian diets. In addition to their nutritive val...
The increased consumer awareness of the health promoting effects of functional foods and nutraceuticals is the driving force of the functional food and nutraceutical market. Bioactive peptides are known for their high tissue affinity, specificity and...
Cold plasma (CP) technology has proven very effective as an alternative tool for food decontamination and shelf-life extension. The impact of CP on food quality is very crucial for its acceptance as an alternative food processing technology. Due to t...
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that approximately one-third of all produced foods (1.3 billion tons of edible food) for human consumption is lost and wasted every year across the entire supply chain. Significant impacts of food...
Salmonellosis is the second most reported gastrointestinal disorder in the EU resulting from the consumption of Salmonella-contaminated foods. Symptoms include gastroenteritis, abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhoea, fever, myalgia, headache, nausea and...
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are considered as the main biogenic amine (BA) producers in fermented foods. These compounds derive from amino acid decarboxylation through microbial activities and can cause toxic effects on humans, with symptoms (headache...
Understanding individual food choices is critical for transforming the current food system to ensure healthiness of people and sustainability of the planet. Throughout the years, researchers from different fields have proposed conceptual models addre...
A novel alternative to synthetic preservatives is the use of natural products such as essential oil (EO) as a natural food-grade preservative. EOs are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), so they could be considered an alternative way to increase the...
(1) Background: Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is responsible for a large part of many health benefits associated to Mediterranean diet as it is a fundamental ingredient of this diet. The peculiarities of this golden, highly valued product are in part...
Tomatoes are consumed worldwide as fresh vegetables because of their high contents of essential nutrients and antioxidant-rich phytochemicals. Tomatoes contain minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential amino acids (leucine, threonine, valine, histidine...
The Covid-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in several parts of the world and, hence, changed some daily habits, including social interactions, the ability to perform sports, and—possibly—diet. The Italian government established and promulgate...
Freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization, is a process in which water in the form of ice under low pressure is removed from a material by sublimation. This process has found many applications for the production of high quality food and pharmaceuti...
Food preservation technologies are currently facing important challenges at extending the shelf-life of perishable food products (e.g., meat, fish, milk, eggs, and many raw fruits and vegetables) that help to meet the daily nutrient requirement deman...
The trend towards sustainability, improved product safety, and high-quality standards are important in all areas of life sciences. In order to satisfy these requirements, intelligent packaging is used in the food sector. These systems can monitor per...
Ultrasound is composed of mechanical sound waves that originate from molecular movements that oscillate in a propagation medium. The waves have a very high frequency, equal to approximately 20 kHz, are divided into two categories (i.e., low-intensity...
Pakistan is vulnerable to climate change, and extreme climatic conditions are threatening food security. This study examines the effects of climate change (e.g., maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and the sunshine)...
The gut microbiota and their metabolites could play an important role in health and diseases of human beings. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are mainly produced by gut microbiome fermentation of dietary fiber and could also be produced by bacteria o...
Pectin is a heterogeneous hydrocolloid present in the primary cell wall and middle lamella in all dicotyledonous plants, more commonly in the outer fruit coat or peel as compared to the inner matrix. Presently, citrus fruits and apple fruits are the...
Naturally produced by aromatic plants, essential oils (EO) contain a wide range of volatile molecules, including mostly secondary metabolites, which possess several biological activities. Essential oils properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial a...
The food environment is a critical place in the food system to implement interventions to support sustainable diets and address the global syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change, because it contains the total scope of options within...
Increasingly, consumers are moving towards a more plant-based diet. However, some consumers are avoiding common plant proteins such as soy and gluten due to their potential allergenicity. Therefore, alternative protein sources are being explored as f...
Vacuum freeze-drying of biological materials is one of the best methods of water removal, with final products of highest quality. The solid state of water during freeze-drying protects the primary structure and the shape of the products with minimal...
Biopolymer-based packaging materials have become of greater interest to the world due to their biodegradability, renewability, and biocompatibility. In recent years, numerous biopolymers—such as starch, chitosan, carrageenan, polylactic acid, e...
Drying is known as the best method to preserve fruits, vegetables, and herbs, decreasing not only the raw material volume but also its weight. This results in cheaper transportation and increments the product shelf life, limiting the food waste. Dryi...
Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and are known to be toxic to humans and animals. Common mycotoxins include aflatoxins, ochratoxins, zearalenone, patulin, sterigmatocystin, citrinin, ergot alkaloids, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, trichothecenes, Altern...
Food is one of the most traded goods, and the conflict in Ukraine, one of the European breadbaskets, has triggered a significant additional disruption in the global food supply chains after the COVID-19 impact. The disruption to food output, supply c...
Innovation in food packaging is mainly represented by the development of active and intelligent packing technologies, which offer to deliver safer and high-quality food products. Active packaging refers to the incorporation of active component into t...
Protein digestibility is currently a hot research topic and is of big interest to the food industry. Different scoring methods have been developed to describe protein quality. Cereal protein scores are typically low due to a suboptimal amino acid pro...
Food loss and waste occur for many reasons, from crop processing to household leftovers. Even though some waste generation is unavoidable, a considerable amount is due to supply chain inefficiencies and damage during transport and handling. Packaging...
This review presents a perspective on the research trends and solutions from recent years in the domain of antimicrobial packaging materials. The antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities can be induced by the main polymer used for packag...
In the wake of continual foodborne disease outbreaks in recent years, it is critical to focus on strategies that protect public health and reduce the incidence of foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. Currently, there are limitations assoc...
Fermentation of various food stuffs by lactic acid bacteria is one of the oldest forms of food biopreservation. Bacterial antagonism has been recognized for over a century, but in recent years, this phenomenon has received more scientific attention,...
Honey has been used as a food and medical product since the earliest times. It has been used in many cultures for its medicinal properties, as a remedy for burns, cataracts, ulcers and wound healing, because it exerts a soothing effect when initially...
