Circular Economy and Organizational Innovation in the Food Sector: Toward Sustainable Transitions
A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Process Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainable development; entrepreneurship; waste management; Industry 4.0; integrated management systems; quality management and engineering
Interests: sustainability; ESG; circular economy; industry 4.0; integrated management systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The transformation of food production is driven by the necessity to harmonize sustainability, digital innovation, and integrated management. The escalating issues of environmental degradation, food waste, and food traceability have heightened the demand for circular strategies, as well as enhancing resource efficiency and technological advancements in food production systems.
This Special Issue, entitled “Circular Economy and Organizational Innovation in the Food Sector: Toward Sustainable Transitions,” seeks to enhance the comprehension of how emerging technologies and circular, sustainable management practices render food production and processing environments more resilient, transparent, and ecologically sound. We seek transdisciplinary contributions in process engineering, food technology, industrial sustainability, and digital transformation for this Special Issue.
We particularly welcome manuscripts presenting theoretical and experimental findings, modeling frameworks, industry case studies, or strategic insights related to the following areas:
- CE strategies for waste valorization and the reintegration of by-products into the food chain.
- Smart food factories and Industry 4.0 technologies (AI, blockchain, sensors, and big data).
- Integrated management systems (ISO, HACCP, FSSC, and ESG metrics) that support sustainability in food operations.
- Innovations in food safety, quality, and traceability through digital tools.
- Policy instruments and institutional frameworks for sustainable food systems.
- Performance assessment: environmental, economic, and social indicators.
- The role of SMEs in sustainable and digitally enabled food value chains.
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Espuny
Prof. Otávio José Oliveira
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. Processes 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 2400 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
- • Circular economy
- • Food industry
- • Sustainability
- • Digital transformation
- • Industry 4.0
- • Waste valorization
- • Traceability
- • Smart food systems
- • Integrated management
- • Sustainable food processing.
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