Omics Technologies in Fermented Food Research: Unraveling Flavor, Nutrition, and Functionality

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 November 2026 | Viewed by 698

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: grain drinks; fermentation; nutritional evaluation; nutrition intervention; food hazard analysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fermented foods are cherished globally for their distinctive flavors and health benefits. Advances in omics technologies—genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and beyond—have revolutionized the field, offering unprecedented insights into the formation mechanisms and regulation of flavor, nutrition, and functional ingredients.

This Special Issue invites original research and review articles on the application of omics in fermented food systems. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: microbial community dynamics and metabolic networks, flavor compound formation and targeted regulation, nutritional enhancement and bioavailability, functional factor discovery and biosynthesis, and multi-omics integration for quality control and process optimization. All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yuliang Cheng
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • fermented food
  • omics technology
  • flavor
  • nutrition
  • functional ingredients
  • microbial activity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 16634 KB  
Article
Biological Deacidification and High-Value Transformation of Acidic Citrus Pulp by Multi-Microbial Fermentation
by Wei Xian, Xueling Qin, Xi Hu, Yusheng Liang, Hong Xie, Tao Pan and Zhenqiang Wu
Foods 2026, 15(8), 1276; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15081276 - 8 Apr 2026
Viewed by 508
Abstract
Excessive acidity restricts the utilization of citrus pulp, a major by-product of the dried tangerine peel industry. To overcome this bottleneck, a functional microbial consortium (BsHpMrF) comprising Bacillus subtilis L4, Hanseniaspora pseudoguilliermondii B4, and Monascus ruber CGMCC 10910 was constructed for efficient biological [...] Read more.
Excessive acidity restricts the utilization of citrus pulp, a major by-product of the dried tangerine peel industry. To overcome this bottleneck, a functional microbial consortium (BsHpMrF) comprising Bacillus subtilis L4, Hanseniaspora pseudoguilliermondii B4, and Monascus ruber CGMCC 10910 was constructed for efficient biological deacidification. The consortium exhibited a synergistic effect, achieving an 88.23% reduction in total acidity and converting the acidic pulp into a neutral, bio-stabilized substrate. Untargeted metabolomics analysis revealed that this efficiency was driven by the concurrent activation of the TCA cycle and glyoxylate shunt for organic acid mineralization, coupled with membrane lipid remodeling (increased unsaturation) to enhance acid tolerance. Notably, the fermentation process functioned as a “metabolic factory”, significantly enriching the matrix with bioactive lipids (e.g., 10-HDA, nervonic acid) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, 414.28 mg/L). Application assays demonstrated that the fermentation products acted as a potent biostimulant for soybean sprouts, significantly promoting lateral roots and eliciting the accumulation of antioxidant phenolics and flavonoids. This study provides a sustainable “waste-to-treasure” strategy, valorizing acidic citrus pulp into a functional biostimulant for high-quality edible sprout production, thereby achieving a sustainable “waste-to-food” circular loop. Full article
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