Food Sustainability: Promising By-Products for Valorization—3rd Edition
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026
Special Issue Editors
2. Centro de Investigação de Montanha, LA SusTEC, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Interests: food chemistry; food safety; bio-based ingredients; antioxidants; bioactive compounds; extraction methods; process optimization; food sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Research Center of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, “George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mures, 540139 Târgu Mures, Romania;
Interests: bioactive phytocompounds; pharmacognosy; extraction methods, process optimization; phytotherapy; nutraceuticals
Interests: Therapeutic nanomaterials, nano-diagnostics; food biotechnology; environmental biotechnology; infection microbiology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Food loss and waste represent pressing global challenges with profound economic, environmental, and social consequences. While prevention is the ideal solution, the valorization and upcycling of agri-food by-products offer innovative and sustainable strategies to mitigate these impacts, transforming materials often regarded as waste into high-value resources. This approach not only contributes significantly to global food security but also fosters the development of a circular and resilient bioeconomy.
Legal frameworks, such as the EU Directive 2008/98/EC, establish clear criteria to distinguish by-products from waste. When these criteria are met—namely, when further use is guaranteed, the material is essential to a production process, and its use is compliant with applicable laws—by-products can unlock new opportunities for innovation across sectors. This paves the way for exploring underutilized biomass, including lignocellulosic feedstocks as well as liquid side streams, and identifying promising industrial applications.
Agri-food by-products from plant, algal, and animal sources are rich in valuable bioactive and functional compounds. Beyond readily extractable constituents such as free polyphenols, pigments, soluble dietary fibers, and oils, there is growing interest in non-extractable components, often bound to the food matrix. Through innovative processes such as fermentation, enzymatic biotransformation, and emerging cell disruption technologies, these complex materials can be broken down to release valuable molecules and generate novel, high-value ingredients. These compounds hold immense potential for application across diverse industries, including food, feed, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, packaging, and bio-based materials.
Building on the success of the previous editions, detailed below, we are pleased to announce the 3rd Edition of this Special Issue, “Food Sustainability: Promising By-Products for Valorization—3rd Edition”.
1st Edition: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/food_sustainability_by-product.
2nd Edition: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/food_sustainability_II.
This Special Issue aims to gather cutting-edge research and comprehensive reviews that shed light on the untapped potential of agri-food side streams. We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Nutritional and chemical profiles of agri-food by-products and derived bio-based ingredients.
- Bioactive properties and potential health benefits of bio-based ingredients and molecules from by-products.
- Presence and mitigation of chemical contaminants and naturally occurring undesirable metabolites.
- Innovative extraction, biotransformation, and formulation approaches for effective by-product valorization.
- Integrated cascading biorefinery approaches for integral valorization of agri-food by-products.
- Exploration of novel applications of bio-based ingredients across diverse industrial sectors.
Dr. José Virgílio Santulhão Pinela
Dr. Mihai Babotă
Guest Editors
Dr. Deepak Sharma
Guest Editor Assistant
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. Molecules 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 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
- agri-food by-products
- extraction and separation methods
- functional bio-based ingredients
- analytical chemistry
- plant toxins
- secondary metabolites
- side-stream processing
- biorefinery approaches
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Related Special Issues
- Food Sustainability: Promising By-Products for Valorization in Molecules (12 articles)
- Food Sustainability: Promising By-Products for Valorization—2nd Edition in Molecules (10 articles)
