Explore Milk and Dairy Products: Sensory, Physicochemical Characteristics, and Processing Technologies

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Dairy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 334

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: dairy science; food safety; dairy technology; sensory properties; GC-MS; LC-MS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: food biotechnology; dairy science; milk; milk quality; dairy management; dairy technology; milk proteins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dairy industry is facing new challenges, aiming to meet consumers’ evolving expectations (food with higher quality standards, safety, and sustainability). To reach their needs, researchers must focus on i) intrinsic biodiversity of milk and cheeses; ii) high variety of the technological processes; and iii) replacing synthetic ingredients with natural ones (i.e., also considering by-product valorization for the circular economy). This adaptability facilitates the development of products that align more closely with consumer preferences while ensuring higher safety standards and embracing environmentally sustainable practices in line with the European Green Deal principles. Some innovation in this sector focuses on reducing fat content, replacing synthetic additives with natural ingredients, and enhancing the compositional profile to offer nutritionally balanced products—all without compromising the distinctive sensory attributes that make dairy products widely appreciated. This evolving landscape presents challenges and opportunities for researchers, calling for novel scientific insights and technological advancements to shape the future of dairy production.

Dr. Giuseppe Natrella
Prof. Dr. Michele Faccia
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

  • dairy product and process innovation
  • high-quality dairy products
  • nutritional improvements
  • sustainability
  • food safety
  • sensory characteristics
  • cheese and milk improvements
  • dairy waste circular economy
  • by-product valorization

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 1696 KiB  
Article
Development of Multiplex qPCR Method for Accurate Detection of Enzyme-Producing Psychrotrophic Bacteria
by Kidane Yalew, Shuwen Zhang, Solomon Gebreyowhans, Ning Xie, Yunna Wang, Jiaping Lv, Xu Li and Xiaoyang Pang
Foods 2025, 14(11), 1975; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14111975 - 3 Jun 2025
Viewed by 197
Abstract
Microbial detection in milk is crucial for food safety and quality, as beneficial and harmful microorganisms can affect consumer health and dairy product integrity. Identifying and quantifying these microorganisms helps prevent contamination and spoilage. The study employs advanced molecular techniques to detect and [...] Read more.
Microbial detection in milk is crucial for food safety and quality, as beneficial and harmful microorganisms can affect consumer health and dairy product integrity. Identifying and quantifying these microorganisms helps prevent contamination and spoilage. The study employs advanced molecular techniques to detect and quantify the genomic DNA for the target hydrolytic enzyme coding genes lipA and aprX based on the multi-align sequence conserved region, specific primer pair, and hydrolysis probes designed using the singleplex qPCR and multiplex qPCR. Cultured isolates and artificially contaminated sterilized ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk were analyzed for their specificity, cross-reactivity, and sensitivity. The finding indicated that strains with lipA and aprX genes were amplified while the other strains were not amplified. This indicated that the designed primer pairs/probes were very specific to the target gene of interest. The specificity of each design primer pair was checked using SYBR Green qPCR using 16 different isolate strains from the milk sample. The quantification specificity of each strain target gene was deemed to be with a mean Ct value for positive pseudomonas strain > 16.98 ± 1.76 (p < 0.0001), non-pseudomonas positive strain ≥ 27.47 ± 1.25 (p < 0.0001), no Ct for the negative control and molecular grade water. The sensitivity limit of detection (LOD) analyzed based on culture broth and milk sample was >105 and >104 in PCR amplification while it was >104 and >103 in real-time qPCR, respectively. At the same time, the correlation regression coefficient of the standard curve based on the pure culture cell DNA as the DNA concentration serially diluted (20 ng/µL to 0.0002 ng/µL) was obtained in multiplex without interference and cross-reactivity, yielding R2 ≥ 0.9908 slope (−3.2591) and intercepting with a value of 37, where the efficiency reached the level of 95–102% sensitivity reached up to 0.0002 ng/µL concentration of DNA, and sensitivity of microbial load was up to 1.2 × 102 CFU/mL. Therefore, multiplex TaqMan qPCR simultaneous amplification was considered the best method developed for the detection of the lipA and aprX genes in a single tube. This will result in developing future simultaneous (three- to four-gene) detection of spoilage psychrotrophic bacteria in raw milk. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop