Food Preservation and Safety: Innovative Applications of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Methods and Their Interactions with Foodborne Microorganisms

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 507

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Interests: food microbiology; food preservation and safety

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In response to the ever-increasing consumer demand for food safety and quality, food preservation technologies have emerged as a focal point of research. Physical methods, such as High-Pressure Processing (HPP), Pulsed Electric Fields (PEFs), and Cold Plasma technologies, offer non-thermal alternatives for inactivating pathogenic microorganisms, extending food shelf life while preserving sensory and nutritional attributes. Chemical approaches focus on the development of natural preservatives and antioxidants, including plant essential oils, extracts, and their compounds, which exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and enhance food functionality. Biological methods, particularly the use of biocontrol agents (e.g., bacteriocins and organic acids produced by lactic acid bacteria), provide green and sustainable solutions for food preservation.

This Special Issue will delve into the technical principles, application scenarios, and interaction mechanisms of these methods with foodborne microorganisms (including bacteria, molds, etc.). Special attention will be given to how these methods can synergistically control microbial contamination in food while maintaining or improving the overall quality of food products. Furthermore, the efficacy and challenges of these technologies in various food categories, including meat products, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables, will be discussed. This Special Issue aims to explore the latest advancements in physical, chemical, and biological methods for food preservation and their complex interactions with foodborne microorganisms. We invite the submission of short communications, original articles, or review articles that contribute to the development of this field.

Prof. Dr. Wei Wei
Prof. Dr. Shuhao Huo
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

  • food preservation
  • food safety
  • physical methods
  • chemical methods
  • biological methods
  • foodborne microorganisms
  • high-pressure processing
  • pulsed electric fields
  • cold plasma
  • natural preservatives
  • biocontrol agents

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

22 pages, 2864 KB  
Review
Selective Inactivation Strategies for Vegetable Raw Materials: Regulating Microbial Communities to Ensure the Safety and Quality of Fermented Vegetables
by Lin Zhu, Mengke Cheng, Cuicui Xu, Rong Wang, Meng Zhang, Yufei Tao, Shanshan Qi and Wei Wei
Foods 2025, 14(19), 3291; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14193291 - 23 Sep 2025
Viewed by 203
Abstract
Fermented vegetables, which are valued for their distinctive organoleptic properties and nutritional profile, are susceptible to quality deterioration during processing and storage because microorganisms inhabit vegetable raw materials. The metabolic processes of these microorganisms may induce texture degradation, chromatic alterations, flavor diminution, and [...] Read more.
Fermented vegetables, which are valued for their distinctive organoleptic properties and nutritional profile, are susceptible to quality deterioration during processing and storage because microorganisms inhabit vegetable raw materials. The metabolic processes of these microorganisms may induce texture degradation, chromatic alterations, flavor diminution, and spoilage. Conventional inactivation methods employing thermal sterilization or chemical preservatives achieve microbial control through nonselective inactivation, inevitably compromising the regional sensory characteristics conferred by indigenous fermentative microbiota. Recent advances in existing antimicrobial technologies offer promising alternatives for selective microbial management in fermented vegetable matrices. Existing modalities, including cold plasma, electromagnetic wave-based inactivation (e.g., photodynamic inactivation, pulsed light, catalytic infrared radiation, microwave, and radio frequency), natural essential oils, and lactic acid bacterial metabolites, demonstrate targeted pathogen inactivation while maintaining beneficial microbial consortia essential for quality preservation when properly optimized. This paper explores the applications, mechanisms, and targeted microbes of these technologies in fermented vegetable ingredients, aiming to provide a robust theoretical and practical framework for the use of selective inactivation strategies to manage the fermentation process. By assessing their impact on the initial microbial community, this review aims to guide the development of methods that ensure product safety while safeguarding the characteristic flavor and quality of fermented vegetables. Full article
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