Probiotics and Prebiotics in Animal Health and Food Safety

Dear Colleagues,

High numbers of scientific papers concern the study of probiotics and prebiotics for preserving or restoring human health and obtained results have led to new trends on medical and pharmaceutical applications. The animal field has received less attention, until now, despite having enormous potential. Modulation of the animal gut microbiota with feed additives such as prebiotics and probiotics is a key element for host protection against zoonotic microorganisms, animal performance and welfare.

Metagenomic and transcriptomic studies can now help increase the existing knowledge of the functionality of the gut microbiota, its decisive role in host interactions and the efficacy of probiotic and prebiotic treatments.

Food safety is of fundamental importance to the consumer. Protective Cultures (PCs) for the safety of animal-derived foods should support good manufacturing practices. PCs can be very useful in ready-to-eat food products, besides meeting consumer demand for chemical-free treatments. They are also very useful in raw foods to extent shelf life, or in certain foods for fungal control.

The purpose of this special issue is to collect original articles as well as reviews concerning probiotics and prebiotics in animals and protective cultures for the safety of animal-derived foods. Example of topics includes probiotics and prebiotics for the health of pigs, horses, poultry, cattle, companion animals, fish aquaculture and honeybees.

The use of “dead” or “inactivated” probiotics in animal are equally welcome.

Last December, Professor Bruno Biavati passed away too early. We lost a mentor, a colleague and a friend.

During his career, Professor Biavati devoted himself to the microbiology and physiology of bifidobacteria. As a tribute to the research activity of his microbial group, in 2012, a new species of bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium biavatii) was named after him.

His interest in these bacteria led him to focus his research on the characterization of probiotics and the beneficial effects of their administration. In particular, his efforts were addressed to evaluate their efficacy in animals and humans.

He was a researcher with an insatiable curiosity and, although he was retired, he was still working with deep passion and those of us who worked and knew Bruno will miss his generosity in sharing ideas and participating in collaborative research studies.

This Special Issue on Probiotics and Prebiotics in Animal Health and Food Safety is dedicated to his memory and aims to collect original works and reviews dealing with the modulation of the animal gut microbiota with prebiotics and probiotics and protective cultures for food safety.

We mourn his loss but his legacy will live on.

 

Dr. Francesca Gaggìa

Guest Editor

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