Dear Colleagues,

Color is a sensory attribute closely associated with the flavor, smell, or quality of food. Because of this, color is broadly used by the food industry to satisfy the consumer expectations about a product. The food industry strives to maintain the original appearance of green foods whose color is negatively affected by their processing. In addition, natural or synthetic green additives are also widely used to impart, restore, or standardize color, increasing the visual appeal of processed foods. Within this framework, it can be said that it is a current trend for the consumer to search for an “experience“, rather than a product itself. In this regard, the food industry innovates in qualities such as color in order to satisfy the demand for healthy or lifestyle alternative products, which cover the diffuse differential line that separates foods from snacks. The green color is associated with natural foods, and companies use this color when their products are marketed as organic, sustainable, or healthy. The use of food ingredients such as fruits or vegetables that have the secondary effect of coloring is also a current trend. Spinach or spirulina are clear examples of use both as green food ingredient or as colorant additive after the selective extraction of pigments.

Natural green pigments are not only technologically relevant to the food industry, but also there is increasing evidence of their contribution to human health. Adverse health effects of synthetic dyes and no nutritional value demand new research in natural green colorants. Chlorophyll is the natural green pigment par excellence, is found in all photosynthetic organisms, and is excellent to replace yellow and blue artificial dyes. Stability, however, plays an essential role in the design of food products that contain natural green pigments, and new technologies exploring co-pigmentation, formation of stable metallocomplexes, and encapsulation, among others, are required in this field.

On the other hand, the high volume of waste generated by the agri-food industry cannot be ignored, along with the obligation to investigate new strategies for its management. Efforts to enhance the waste from the green fruit and vegetables, both fresh and processed, as a potential source of healthy green food ingredients are demanded.

Therefore, we would like to invite authors to contribute to this Special Issue with original research papers or review articles focused on novel aspects related to new sources of green foods, and stabilization of the green color in processed foods. Moreover, we hope to bring together research on foods, ingredients or additives green in color, analytical methodologies to differentiate natural and artificial green colorants, sustainable extraction methods, waste recovery technologies aimed at obtaining green ingredients, or studies related to health benefits of natural green products consumption.

Dr. Beatriz Gandul-Rojas
Dr. Lourdes Gallardo-Guerrero
Guest Editors

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• chlorophylls
• coloring foodstuffs
• encapsulation
• food authenticity
• food colorants
• food quality and composition
• fortified food
• green color stability
• health benefits: functional food
• digestion and bioaccesibility
• metallo-chlorophyll complex
• re-greening
• waste valuation