Functionality and Stability of Probiotics, Postbiotics, Parabiotics and Plant Bioactives in Food System

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, consumers have become more aware of the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and are demanding foods with more benefits in their composition. For this reason, the food industry has increased the development of functional foods and bioactive ingredients by incorporating probiotics, bioactive compounds, postbiotics, and parabiotics, representing a new category of foods for the improvement of biological responses. Bioactives are subject to physicochemical changes due to the processing, gastrointestinal digestion, and to the food matrix. Therefore, to achieve health benefits, researchers must investigate the functional, nutritional, technological, and organoleptic properties, thus guaranteeing the stability, bioaccessibility, and bioavailability of the added functional compounds through different strategies.

This Special Issue of Foods aims to collect original research articles and reviews to expand knowledge in the field of stability and functionality of probiotics, postbiotics, parabiotics, and plant bioactives for the development of functional foods and ingredients. The main topics of interest are:

• Encapsulation of bioactive compounds and probiotic bacteria;
• Control of the fermentation process and analysis before and after fermentation and during shelf life;
• Impact of processing and the food matrix on the stability of bioactives;
• Strategies for the extraction of plant bioactives, postbiotics, and parabiotics;
• In vitro bioactivity of plant bioactives, postbiotics, and parabiotics;
• Analytical approaches for the characterization of foods and ingredients that involve the use of bioactives, postbiotics, and parabiotics;
• Strategies for the long-term stabilization of functional foods and ingredients;
• In vitro and in vivo studies to evaluate the physiological effects of bioactives as well as the mechanisms involved;
• Antimicrobial and antiviral activities.

Prof. Dr. Maria Jose Frutos Fernandez
Dr. Letizia Bresciani
Guest Editors

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