Non-Thermal Processing: Efficient Methods for the Physical Modification of Starches

Dear Colleagues,

Starch is one of the most abundant, renewable, and economical carbohydrate biopolymers, widely applied in food processing, the pharmaceutical industry, biodegradable materials, and agricultural fields. Native starch exhibits inherent limitations, including poor thermal stability, weak shear resistance, low solubility, and unsatisfactory functional characteristics, which severely restrict its industrial application and product upgrading.

Traditional thermal modification techniques often cause excessive molecular degradation, undesirable color changes, nutrient loss, and unstable product quality of starch. In contrast, non-thermal physical modification technologies (including high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasonic treatment, pulsed electric field, cold plasma, ultraviolet irradiation, superfine grinding, and freeze–thaw treatment) achieve structural regulation of starch under near-ambient temperature conditions. These green, efficient, and pollution-free processing methods can effectively modify starch granular structure, crystalline structure, molecular chain conformation, and hydration characteristics without introducing chemical reagents, which has become a hot research direction in modern starch modification and green food processing.

With the rapid development of clean processing technology and biodegradable starch materials, exploring the internal correlation between non-thermal physical treatment conditions, starch structural evolution, and functional property changes is essential for the high-value utilization of grain starch resources.

This Special Issue aims to comprehensively explore the modification mechanism and application potential of diverse non-thermal physical processing technologies on cereal, tuber, and legume starch. It focuses on clarifying the structural response rules of starch multiscale structures (granule morphology, crystal type, molecular weight distribution, and short-range ordered structure) to non-thermal physical stress, and systematically revealing the variation mechanism of key functional properties including gelatinization characteristics, rheological behavior, retrogradation properties, thermal stability, water/oil absorption capacity, and digestibility.

The scope covers basic mechanism research, process optimization, structure–function relationship establishment, and industrial application exploration of non-thermal starch modification. This Special Issue intends to provide theoretical support and technical references for the green upgrading of starch processing, precise regulation of starch properties, and high-value utilization of agricultural grain resources.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Structural evolution of starch induced by different non-thermal physical processing technologies;

- Effects of non-thermal modification on gelatinization, rheology, and retrogradation properties of starch;

- Improvement mechanism of starch digestibility and functional characteristics via non-thermal physical treatment;

- Synergistic modification of starch by combined non-thermal physical technologies;

- Structure–function relationship of physically modified starch;

- Application of non-thermally modified starch in food, packaging, and biomaterial fields;

- Process parameter optimization and industrial adaptability analysis of green starch physical modification.

Prof. Dr. Shuangqi Tian
Guest Editor

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-anonymized 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.