Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
8.7
5.1
Journals
Foods
Special Issues
From Waste to Systems Change: Governance, Innovation and Integration for...
share announcement

From Waste to Systems Change: Governance, Innovation and Integration for Sustainable Food Futures

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 1489

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gianpiero Pataro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIIn), University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), Italy
Interests: sustainable food processing; circular bioeconomy; biorefinery; food by-products; microalgae biomass; pulsed electric field; ohmic heating; pulsed light; ultrasound
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Giovanni De Feo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIIN), University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Interests: circular economy; environmental communication; life-cycle assessment; recycling; waste management; water and wastewater in ancient civilizations; water supply
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to advance a focused, interdisciplinary dialogue on transformative approaches to food waste prevention and valorization. Food waste is not merely a technical or logistical challenge but a systemic issue embedded in behavioral, regulatory, and socio-economic contexts. To move beyond conventional recycling and valorization technologies, this Issue prioritizes contributions that explore governance frameworks, regulatory innovation, behavioral change mechanisms, and inclusive stakeholder engagement to drive systemic change.

We invite research that addresses food waste prevention at the source—particularly through policy design, incentive structures, supply chain coordination, and consumer behavior. In addition, the Issue seeks to explore innovative valorization pathways that are economically viable and scalable, while also examining the social and environmental trade-offs through tools such as life cycle assessment and social impact metrics.

A central objective of this collection is to understand how interdisciplinary research can be translated into industrial practice and policy impact. We encourage papers that offer actionable insights, case-based learning, and integrative frameworks that bridge disciplinary silos, with particular interest in the roles of governance, civic engagement, and system-level interventions in supporting sustainable, resilient, and circular food systems.

Dr. Gianpiero Pataro
Dr. Giovanni De Feo
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

  • food waste prevention
  • food waste valorization
  • circular economy
  • sustainable food systems
  • by-product valorization
  • waste management
  • food recycling
  • resource efficiency
  • bio-based products
  • agri-food residues
  • green technologies
  • life cycle assessment (LCA)
  • social impact assessment
  • regulatory innovation
  • behavioral change

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 6149 KB  
Article
Environmental Evaluation in Bakery and Brewing Sectors in a Circular Economy Context
by Ionică Drăgan, Emilie Korbel, Gaelle Petit, Lynda Aissani and Vanessa Jury
Foods 2026, 15(9), 1611; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15091611 - 6 May 2026
Viewed by 336
Abstract
Ensuring sustainable food production for a growing population requires robust tools like the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), despite the fundamental complexities characterising the agri-food sector. This study evaluates the environmental impacts of beer and bread production, two important sectors, within a circular economy [...] Read more.
Ensuring sustainable food production for a growing population requires robust tools like the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), despite the fundamental complexities characterising the agri-food sector. This study evaluates the environmental impacts of beer and bread production, two important sectors, within a circular economy framework using the LCA. The analysis focuses on innovative products: bread incorporating brewery-spent grain and beer brewed from unsold bread. The study follows a cradle-to-gate approach, covering the entire upstream supply chain, including cultivation, milling, malting, and ingredient production. Cultivation emerges as the primary environmental hotspot in both systems. In bread production, the bakery and proofing phases also show high impacts, while in brewing, packaging is the dominant contributor, followed by boiling and hopping. For co-product processing, drying and transport are critical hotspots. Compared with conventional products, innovative circular products generally show lower environmental impacts, with exceptions related to organic cultivation and allocation constraints. Circular strategies notably reduce land use and marine eutrophication in most organic cases. Overall, the fully circular scenario outperforms the Conventional System in 13 impact categories, supporting the environmental potential of circular approaches in both sectors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Systems Change: Governance, Innovation and Integration for Sustainable Food Futures)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

33 pages, 1624 KB  
Article
IoT-Enabled Quality-Triggered Markdown Pricing for Perishable Food: Equity and Waste Implications
by Elkafi Hassini, Mohamed Ben-Daya and Zied Bahroun
Foods 2026, 15(4), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15040742 - 17 Feb 2026
Viewed by 589
Abstract
Inequitable access to affordable, nutritious food is partly sustained because markdowns on perishable products are often delayed until quality deterioration becomes visible, through which affordability gains are limited and waste is increased. In this study, the extent to which Internet of Things (IoT) [...] Read more.
Inequitable access to affordable, nutritious food is partly sustained because markdowns on perishable products are often delayed until quality deterioration becomes visible, through which affordability gains are limited and waste is increased. In this study, the extent to which Internet of Things (IoT) real-time quality monitoring enables quality-triggered markdowns that reduce waste while improving food equity is examined. An analytical pricing and markdown model for perishables with quality-sensitive demand is developed, and optimal decisions under IoT-enabled quality observability and under a baseline setting without IoT are compared. Convexity is established for the retailer’s problem, and closed-form solutions are derived for the optimal regular price, markdown timing, and markdown depth. Under continuous quality visibility, earlier markdown initiation within the selling horizon is shown to be optimal while product quality remains acceptable, and a deeper markdown than in the non-IoT setting is shown to be optimal. Through numerical experiments, increased sell-through before products become unsalable is demonstrated, waste reduction is quantified, and an expanded time window is shown in which price-sensitive consumers can purchase acceptable-quality food at a lower price. Overall, improved food equity is supported by proactive, quality-aligned pricing policies without retailer profitability being sacrificed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Waste to Systems Change: Governance, Innovation and Integration for Sustainable Food Futures)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop