Microbial Innovations in Circular Bioeconomy: From Food Waste to Functional Products
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Security and Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2026
Special Issue Editor
Interests: Biomaterial, Biochemical, Bioenergy, Valorisation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Food waste is a growing global crisis, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and environmental pollution. According to the United Nations, approximately one-third of all food produced globally is wasted. Transforming this abundant and underutilized resource into valuable products through microbial intervention offers a sustainable solution that aligns with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). Microbes play a crucial role in bioconversion processes by enabling the transformation of complex organic matter into high-value compounds such as bioplastics, biofuels, biofertilizers, enzymes, animal feed, organic acids, single-cell proteins, and platform chemicals. Microbial cell factories and consortia provide flexible, scalable, and eco-friendly pathways for waste valorization, offering significant potential for the development of a circular bioeconomy.
This Special Issue aims to present recent advances in microbial-based food waste valorization strategies, with a particular focus on innovative biotechnological, metabolic, and bioprocess engineering approaches. It will serve as a reference for researchers, policymakers, and industries working at the intersection of microbiology, food waste management, and sustainable product development.
We invite the submission of high-quality original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that address the following topics:
Microbial consortia for food waste degradation and conversion.
Engineered microbes and synthetic biology approaches in food waste valorization.
Bioprocess optimization for microbial upcycling of food waste.
Production of bioplastics (e.g., PHA, PLA) from food waste.
Microbial synthesis of biofuels (e.g., bioethanol, biobutanol, biogas).
Generation of biofertilizers, enzymes, or organic acids from food waste.
Use of food waste in single-cell protein or animal feed production.
Application of omics and systems biology in microbial food waste valorization.
Microbial fermentation of food processing by-products.
Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of microbial upcycling systems.
Role of microbiomes in food waste biotransformation.
Innovations in microbial reactors for large-scale applications.
Policy, regulatory, and commercialization aspects of microbial food waste.
Guest Editor(s)
Dr. Shashi Kant Bhatia
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 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
- food waste
- valorization
- biochemical
- bioenergy
- biomaterials
- fermentation
- biofertilizers
- biotransformation
- single-cell protein
- life cycle assessment
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