Insights on Food Processing: Applications of Natural Biologically Active Ingredients

Dear Colleagues,

Food processing includes a variety of operations by which raw foodstuffs are made suitable for consumption or storage. Globally, food processing and food formulation have provided millions of consumers access to nutritious, safe, and affordable foods, but they often include the addition of ingredients to improve quality, acceptability, and palatability; enhance nutrition; and extend shelf-life. Consumer preferences are driven by taste, price/value, convenience, nutrition, and sustainability.

However, the growing concern of consumers with health, sustainability, and the perception of the relationship between natural foods and well-being has led to a growing demand for foods with natural ingredients. Natural bioactive ingredients—mainly obtained from plants—include polyphenols, vitamins, and polysaccharides that are associated with anti-oxidative, anti-cancer, mediating cardiovascular and neurodegenerative activities, among others. However, these active compounds can be unstable under certain conditions of food production and have low bioavailability, which limits their application in functional foods and nutritional supplements. 

This Special Issue is a good opportunity for colleagues working in the fields of agronomy, food technology, biochemistry, nutrition, and sensory evaluation to submit high-quality manuscripts related to:

• New sources of biologically valuable raw material;
• New food processing methods based on natural biologically active ingredients;
• Innovative food technologies to preserve the biological activities of the ingredients;
• The impact of natural biologically active ingredients on the nutritional, physico-chemical, and sensory properties of food products;
• The bioavailability of natural bioactive compounds in vitro and in vivo.

Dr. Maria João Barroca
Dr. Aida Moreira da Silva
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.