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Emerging Technologies for Food Polymers and Colloids: Exploring Their Application...
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Emerging Technologies for Food Polymers and Colloids: Exploring Their Application in Food Packaging, Novel Foods, and the Delivery of Nutraceuticals

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Physics and (Bio)Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 860

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yiguo Zhao

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Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: food hydrocolloids; food emulsion; low-fat dairy products; plant-based meat analogues; structure design of gels; microencapsulation of bioactive compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Simin Feng

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Guest Editor
Ocean College, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
Interests: encapsulation of phytochemicals; food hydrocolloids; functional activity evaluation; metabolic disease prevention; nutraceuticals; cosmetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yang Wei

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Interests: tea nutrition and safety; nutraceuticals; food colloids; food delivery systems; food digestion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food polymers are an important part of food components or formulations during food processing, comprising, for instance, lipids, polysaccharides, and proteins and/or their complexes with other natural ingredients. In recent years, the potential applications of these polymers have attracted much attention, including but not limited to the following uses:

  • Innovative microstructure developments in food packaging enhance stability, extend food shelf-life, and ensure sustainability.
  • Food polymers create unique textures, flavours, and nutritional profiles in novel food applications. Examples range from plant-based alternatives to functional foods enriched with specific nutrients, redefining emerging food, cooking techniques, and more.
  • Nutrient delivery manipulates interactions between food and its environment. Emerging technologies can facilitate the precise encapsulation and targeted release of bioactive compounds, increasing their efficacy and absorption.

In this Special Issue of Foods, we invite submissions focusing on all aspects of food polymers, including emulsions, films, coatings, foams, and gels; the controlled release of bioactive compounds, particularly regarding hydrocolloids as functional ingredients that modulate the gastrointestinal fa in delivery systems; and industrial applications within the food industry and related fields.

Dr. Yiguo Zhao
Dr. Simin Feng
Dr. Yang Wei
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

  • polysaccharides
  • proteins
  • applications
  • food packaging
  • novel foods
  • delivery systems

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2172 KiB  
Article
Bioactive Properties of the Microwave-Assisted Olive Leaf Extract and Its Incorporation into a Whey Protein Isolate Coating of Semi-Hard Cheese
by Elizabeta Zandona, Maja Vukelić, Karla Hanousek Čiča, Antonio Zandona, Jasna Mrvčić, Maja Katalinić, Ines Cindrić, Almir Abdurramani and Irena Barukčić Jurina
Foods 2025, 14(9), 1496; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14091496 - 25 Apr 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 665
Abstract
The food industry generates large quantities of biowaste, including olive (Olea europaea L.) leaves, which are rich in phenolic compounds with proven antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. In this study, a microwave-assisted olive leaf extract was produced and evaluated. Antioxidant potential (20.23 ± [...] Read more.
The food industry generates large quantities of biowaste, including olive (Olea europaea L.) leaves, which are rich in phenolic compounds with proven antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. In this study, a microwave-assisted olive leaf extract was produced and evaluated. Antioxidant potential (20.23 ± 0.31 µmol TE g−1), antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 17.62 mg GAE g−1), and cytotoxic effects in breast (MDA-MB-231 (IC50 = 38.9 ± 1.8 µg mL−1), MCF-7 (IC50 = 58.9 ± 5.4 µg mL−1) and prostate cancer PC-3 (IC50 = 69.2 ± 7.6 µg mL−1) cell models were confirmed. Further, the extract was incorporated into a whey protein isolate (WPI) edible coating mixture and applied to semi-hard cheese over a 60-day ripening period. When applied to cheese, WPI-based coatings enriched with OLE contributed to an improved antioxidant potential (289.79 ± 16.16 µmol TE L−1), elevated retention of total phenols and flavonoids, and slightly reduced microbial growth without compromising cheese safety. Compared to the uncoated control, coated samples showed higher total solids (up to 62.87 ± 0.13%, CWPIM) and fat contents (up to 26.59 ± 0.17%, CWPIM), moderated proteolysis (WSN in CWPIM: 3.15 ± 0.09% vs. 4.48 ± 0.02% in C0), maintained cohesiveness and resilience compared to the control, and exhibited less pronounced color deviation (ΔE) in some coated samples during ripening. These results highlight the potential of olive leaf extract as a bioactive, sustainable ingredient for functional edible coatings that improve the nutritional, technological, and microbiological quality of ripened cheese. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Technologies for Food Polymers and Colloids: Exploring Their Application in Food Packaging, Novel Foods, and the Delivery of Nutraceuticals)
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