Advances in Food Processing Technologies: Enhancing Quality, Safety, and Sustainability

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2025 | Viewed by 1105

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Bioingénierie et Dynamique Microbienne aux Interfaces Alimentaires Research Unit, IUT Lyon 1, Technopole Alimentec, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, ISARA Lyon, 155 rue Henri de Boissieu, 01000 Bourg en Bresse, France
Interests: food preservation; antimicrobial biomolecules; active edible coating and packaging; dairy products; proteins; bioactive peptides
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Guest Editor
Department of Process Engineering, University of Food Technologies, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Interests: ultrafiltration application; food; biotechnology; membrane processes; food science; food technology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food processing technologies play a vital role in ensuring the safety, quality, and sustainability of the global food supply. This Special Issue focuses on the recent advancements in these technologies and their impacts on food safety, product quality, and sustainability. The adoption of advancements in food processing technologies can improve consumer confidence, reduce waste, and create a sustainable food supply chain.

Therefore, this Special Issue will search original scientific developments in the following areas:

  • Advanced food technologies;
  • Preservation techniques;
  • Advanced thermal methods;
  • Non-thermal technologies;
  • Innovative packaging systems;
  • Controlled fermentation;
  • Food safety, quality, and sustainability.

These topics are indicative, and research is not strictly limited to them.

We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. Review articles, short communications, and full-size research papers are all welcome.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Applied Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Pascal Degraeve
Dr. Mariya Dushkova
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2900 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

  • advanced food technologies
  • food processing
  • food quality
  • food safety
  • food sustainability

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 542 KiB  
Article
Elucidation of Nutritional Quality, Antinutrients, and Protein Digestibility of Dehulled and Malted Flours Produced from Three Varieties of Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranean)
by Mpho Edward Mashau, Thakhani Takalani, Oluwaseun Peter Bamidele and Shonisani Eugenia Ramashia
Foods 2025, 14(14), 2450; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14142450 - 12 Jul 2025
Viewed by 208
Abstract
Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean) is an important legume grain in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. Nevertheless, the peculiarity of being hard to cook and mill and the availability of antinutritional factors often limit Bambara groundnut (BGN) use in food applications. This [...] Read more.
Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean) is an important legume grain in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. Nevertheless, the peculiarity of being hard to cook and mill and the availability of antinutritional factors often limit Bambara groundnut (BGN) use in food applications. This study investigated the impact of dehulling and malting on the nutritional composition, antinutritional factors, and protein digestibility of flours obtained from three BGN varieties (red, cream, and brown). Dehulling and malting significantly enhanced the moisture and protein content of BGN flours (dry basis), with values varying from 6.01% (control brown variety) to 8.71% (malted cream and brown varieties), and from 18.63% (control red variety) to 21.87% (dehulled brown), respectively. Dehulling increased the fat content from 5.82% (control red variety) to 7.84% (dehulled cream), whereas malting decreased the fat content. Nevertheless, malting significantly increased (p < 0.05) the fiber content from 4.78% (control cream) to 8.28% (malted brown variety), while dehulling decreased the fiber content. Both processing methods decreased the ash and carbohydrate contents of the BGN flours. Dehulling and malting significantly enhanced the amino acids of BGN flours, except for tryptophan and asparagine. Dehulling and malting notably increased the phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and sulfur contents of the BGN flours, while calcium and zinc were reduced. Malting significantly enhanced the iron content of BGN flour, whereas dehulling reduced it. Both processing methods significantly enhanced palmitic, arachidic, and y-Linolenic acids. Nonetheless, processing methods significantly reduced phytic acid and oxalate, and dehulling achieved the most significant reductions. Dehulling and malting significantly enhanced the protein digestibility of the BGN flours from 69.38 (control red variety) to 83.29 g/100 g (dehulled cream variety). Overall, dehulling and malting enhanced the nutritional quality and decreased the antinutritional factors of BGN flours. Full article
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19 pages, 1513 KiB  
Article
Impact of Traditional Food Processing Techniques on Mineral Bioaccessibility in Ghanaian Fermented Millet-Based Koko and Zoomkoom
by Alhassan Wuni, Francis Alemawor, Felix Charles Mills-Robertson, Evans Frimpong Boateng and James Owusu-Kwarteng
Foods 2025, 14(12), 2126; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14122126 - 18 Jun 2025
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Abstract
In this study, the impacts of traditional processing on phytates contents, phytate: mineral molar ratios, and the bioaccessibility of calcium, iron, and zinc in three traditional koko production units (KP1, KP2, and KP3) and two zoomkoom production units (ZP1 and ZP2) products were [...] Read more.
In this study, the impacts of traditional processing on phytates contents, phytate: mineral molar ratios, and the bioaccessibility of calcium, iron, and zinc in three traditional koko production units (KP1, KP2, and KP3) and two zoomkoom production units (ZP1 and ZP2) products were assessed based on the variations in their traditional processing techniques. The total calcium content of ZP1 was ranked the highest (58.02 mg/100 g, p < 0.05) compared to other processed samples. A high total value of iron (17.76 mg/100 g, p < 0.05) was revealed among koko compared to zoomkoom. Whereas KP3 and ZP2 showed the highest (p < 0.05) amount of zinc (3.34 mg/100 g). ZP1 showed a calcium bioaccessibility of 6.3% (p < 0.05). The iron bioaccessibility was within the average range of 5–30%, with KP1 ranking the highest (21.8%), while ZP1 showed the highest value (42.2%) (p < 0.05) in bioaccessibility of zinc among the zoomkoom products. The processing techniques adopted caused up to a 56.7% to 76.76% reduction (p < 0.05) of phytic acid in the pearl millet, leading to a decrease in the molar ratios of [Ca]:[Phy], [Fe]:[Phy], and [Phy]:[Zn]. However, the phytic acid content varied among the koko and zoomkoom, corresponding with the varied inhibitory mechanism indices reported. In brief, a positive correlation was shown between the traditional processing techniques, phytate, and in vitro bioaccessibility of minerals, indicating the consumption of koko and zoomkoom as a good source of functional minerals. Full article
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