Innovative Approaches to Obtaining Functional Compounds from Agri-Food Byproducts
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 7594
Special Issue Editors
Interests: food quality and safety; functional foods; agri-food wastes; circular economy; chromatography; antioxidants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: synthesis of heterocyclic compounds; chemotherapeutics; antioxidants; food-derived bioactive molecules; medicinal chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The agri-food industry generates huge amounts of byproducts throughout the supply chain, from harvesting to processing and consumption. In particular, agri-food wastes are not considered to be either food loss or food waste; thus, they are not covered by the European Union’s action plan related to the SDG target 12.3. The management and disposal of these matrices represent a severe environmental load, and current regulations mainly allow for them to be exploited as land fertilizers and/or heat sources. However, they contain valuable functional compounds with potential uses in further production cycles, including food and nutraceutical fields. In this sense, sustainability and circular economy principles can be supported by facing environmental challenges while creating economic opportunities.
The growing interest in functional foods highlights the need for innovative, cost-effective, and eco-friendly strategies to recover and utilize these compounds, keeping in mind legal and nutritional compliance.
In this context, this Special Issue invites contributions focusing on the following topics:
- Innovative extraction methods recovering functional compounds from agri-food wastes;
- Advanced characterization of agri-food wastes and related extracts;
- Bioactivity studies for potential health benefits;
- Innovative food formulations, including gluten-free products, using compounds from agro-industrial byproducts;
- Integration of circular economy practices and waste management in valorizing agro-industrial byproducts;
- Applications of functional compounds in food and nutraceuticals to enhance functionality and health benefits;
- Regulatory and normative aspects concerning the use of functional compounds and their applications;
- Development of innovative delivery systems to improve the stability and functionality of bioactive compounds;
- Case studies on the economic feasibility, environmental impact, and consumer acceptance of products derived from agro-industrial byproducts.
Dr. Donatella Restuccia
Dr. Francesca Aiello
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 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-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
- agri-food wastes
- functional compounds
- nutraceuticals
- innovative extractions
- circular economy
- waste management
- food sustainability
- innovative food formulations
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