Innovation Trends for the Meat Industry

Dear Colleagues,

Although meats and meat products are key dietary sources for many important nutrients, including protein and essential micronutrients (minerals and vitamins), their consumption is continuously decreasing due to the consumer concerns about health and the environment. For most new consumers, meat and meat products have a negative image. Their content in saturated fats and cholesterol and the use of some additives in the products’ formulas (mainly salt and nitrites) that can cause health problems are factors contributing to the consumer rejection. Bearing these considerations in mind, the meat industry has to make a big shift toward the development of healthier meat products. The substitution of saturated fats with unsaturated fats, the replacement of animal protein with plant-based ingredients, decreasing salt content, avoiding nitrite addition, adding dietary fiber, enrichment with bioactive compounds, or even the addition of coproducts from agro-industries are only a few examples of strategies that are under study in awakening consumer appeal. These reformulation strategies bring with them technological problems that must be solved by researchers in order to lead to successful products—all with the ultimate aim of ensuring that meat products can return to the diet of new and demanding generations with great concern for the environment and health.

Prof. Dr. Juana Fernández-López
Guest Editor

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-anonymized 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.