Promotion of Food Safety and Functional Improvement Using Microorganisms
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 666
Special Issue Editor
Interests: food safety; food microbiology; microbial genetics and physiology; gene cloning; antibiotic resistance; foodborne pathogens; bacteriocins; food microbial ecology; fermentation and ripening; gene expression
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Food safety, quality, and health-promoting effects often depend on the struggle between beneficial and detrimental microorganisms. The former, mainly lactic acid bacteria (LAB), propionic acid bacteria (PAB), some yeast species, and single strains of coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS), can modify the properties of the raw materials, leading to food products lasting longer and having desirable sensory properties. In addition, beneficial microorganisms can inhibit spoiling and pathogenic microbial species in food via different mechanisms, mostly involving the production of organic acids and antimicrobial peptides. Moreover, antagonism at the single-strain level can lead to the inhibition of bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which can be present in foods with a complex microbiota.
At the same time, beneficial bacteria can enrich food products with health-promoting metabolites such as vitamins and anti-hypertensive compounds. They can also detoxify substances that cause harm to consumers.
Selected cultures of beneficial microorganisms are widely exploited in the production of fermented and ripened foods and as protective cultures for fresh products with a short shelf life. However, there is still room for improvement in the application of novel strains and their combination and the mode of use to increase the efficacy of beneficial microorganisms when it comes to guaranteeing safety and enhancing sensory quality and health-promoting effects in foods.
Therefore, this Special Issue will showcase articles highlighting advancements in improving the safety, quality, and health-promoting properties of foods through the use of microorganisms or their metabolites, based on the belief that research in this field can lead to practical innovations for the production of safer and healthier foods.
Dr. Franca Rossi
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 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. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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
- beneficial microorganisms
- food spoilage prevention
- foodborne pathogen inhibition
- antagonism toward antibiotic resistance gene carriers
- enrichment in health-promoting substances
- detoxification
- shelf life extension
- improvement of sensory properties
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