Announcement of Special Issue
Thematic Issue for Applied Food Biotechnology
Biotechnological Solutions for Food Waste Management and Bioconversion into High-Value Bio-Products
Guest Editors
Dr. Muhammad Bilal
Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland
bilaluaf@hotmail.com; muhammad.bilal@pg.edu.pl
Prof. Xianghui Qi
School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
bioqxh@163.com; qxh@ujs.edu.cn
Timelines:
Beginning of paper submission: May 2024
Deadline for paper submission: October 2024
Period of peer-review process: January 2025
Revised manuscript due: March 2025
Publication: April 2025
Special Issue Description
Food waste has received increased attention from the public, national, and international organizations due to significant social, environmental, and economic concerns, as well as climate change and the depletion of fossil reserves. Although they represent serious ecological problems, food residues have considerable potential for biotransformation processes to produce a wide range of valuable compounds due to their rich composition of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. Significant research endeavors have been made in recent years to effectively utilize food-processing waste for the production of high-value bioproducts. The sustainable bioconversion of food and agricultural waste into valuable products not only provides economic benefits but also reduces the undesirable impacts caused by the decomposition of food waste in the environment and landfills.
Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the most recent technological advancements and trends in the conversion of food waste. Using advanced biotechnological approaches, a wide range of commercially valuable and potential chemical compounds, including biofuels, biopolymers, food-grade pigments, bioplastics, single-cell protein, organic acids (such as succinic, malic, glutamic, fumaric, itaconic acids, and 3-hydroxy propionic acid), enzymes, nutraceuticals, functional sugars (such as arabitol and xylitol), and dietary fibers, have been produced through the bioconversion and recycling of food industry waste, thereby improving food security and promoting environmentally sustainable development. In order to achieve this goal, there is a growing search for new trends in green biotechnological processes that provide significant advantages over conventional procedures for the sustainable valorization of food waste.
This special issue aims to highlight recent findings and progress in applying state-of-the-biotechnological approaches for sustainable processing of food industry wastes into value-added products. The main topics of food biotechnology advances and innovations include agri-food biotechnology, food packaging, food printing technology, circular economy, food safety, bioremediation, decontamination, and biocatalysis. This collection welcomes high-quality research and review articles focusing on principles and applications of biotechnology to food and beverage production, processing, packaging, food quality and nutrition enhancement, safety, food preservation, and food waste management.
Themes of interest in this Research Topic include but are not limited to:
Applied Food Biotechnology
20 May 2024