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Microbial Fermentation, Food and Food Sustainability

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A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 607

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biotechnologies have been widely used in food production for thousands of years. Nevertheless, new approaches have recently been proposed to meet the market demand for high-quality and sustainable products.

Innovative fermentation bioprocesses can include alternative ingredients, by-products, and waste derived from the agrifood sector, and often start with the characterization of the associated matrices and their microbiota. The fermentation performance and enzymatic activity of potential starters, the synthesis of functional compounds, the degradation of antinutritional factors, and the improvement of quality have played roles in the formulation of new food ingredients and products. Moreover, innovative non-food materials (e.g., feed, bioplastic, biofuels, and fertilizers) can be produced through the fermentation of food by-products.

The aim of this Special Issue is to compile original research articles and systematic reviews that focus on the valorization of alternative food matrices, by-products, and waste obtained through fermentation, as well as biotechnologies related to the production of traditional fermented ingredients and food products.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the set-up of new biotechnological processes, the characterization of the microbial community or starters involved in fermentation processes, and the characterization of the obtained products.

Dr. Marco Montemurro
Prof. Dr. Carlo Giuseppe Rizzello
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. 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

food
production
fermentation
microbial community
bioprocesses

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 9218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Screening the Protective Agents Able to Improve the Survival of Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Subjected to Spray Drying Using Several Key Enzymes Responsible for Carbohydrate Utilization

by Jing Liu, Shanshan Xie, Mengfan Xu, Xiaoying Jiang, Qian Wang, Hongfei Zhao and Bolin Zhang

Microorganisms 2024, 12(6), 1094; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12061094 - 28 May 2024

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the most effective protectants for enhancing the viability of specific lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus CICC 6097, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CICC 21839, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM) by assessing their enzymatic activity when exposed to spray drying (inlet/outlet temperature: 135 °C/90 °C). Firstly, it was found that the live cell counts of the selected LAB cells from the 10% (w/v) recovered skim milk (RSM) group remained above 10⁷ CFU/g after spray drying. Among all the three groups (1% w/v RSM group, 10% w/v RSM group, and control group), the two enzymes pyruvate kinase (PK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were more sensitive to spray drying than hexokinase (HK) and β-galactosidase (β-GAL). Next, transcriptome data of Lb. acidophilus NCFM showed that 10% (w/v) RSM improved the down-regulated expressions of genes encoding PK (pyk) and LDH (ldh) after spray drying compared to 1% (w/v) RSM. Finally, four composite protectants were created, each consisting of 10% (w/v) RSM plus a different additive—sodium glutamate (CP-A group), sucrose (CP-B group), trehalose (CP-C group), or a combination of sodium glutamate, sucrose, and trehalose (CP-D group)—to encapsulate Lb. acidophilus NCFM. It was observed that the viable counts of strain NCFM (8.56 log CFU/g) and enzymatic activity of PK and LDH in the CP-D group were best preserved compared to the other three groups. Therefore, our study suggested that measuring the LDH and PK activity could be used as a promising tool to screen the effective spray-dried protective agent for LAB cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fermentation, Food and Food Sustainability)

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Review

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19 pages, 1931 KiB

Open AccessReview

Bioplastic Production from Agri-Food Waste through the Use of Haloferax mediterranei: A Comprehensive Initial Overview

by Angela Longo, Francesca Fanelli, Marianna Villano, Marco Montemurro and Carlo Giuseppe Rizzello

Microorganisms 2024, 12(6), 1038; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12061038 - 21 May 2024

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Abstract

The research on bioplastics (both biobased and biodegradable) is steadily growing and discovering environmentally friendly substitutes for conventional plastic. This review highlights the significance of bioplastics, analyzing, for the first time, the state of the art concerning the use of agri-food waste as an alternative substrate for biopolymer generation using Haloferax mediterranei. H. mediterranei is a highly researched strain able to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) since it can grow and produce bioplastic in high-salinity environments without requiring sterilization. Extensive research has been conducted on the genes and pathways responsible for PHB production using H. mediterranei to find out how fermentation parameters can be regulated to enhance cell growth and increase PHB accumulation. This review focuses on the current advancements in utilizing food waste as a substitute for costly substrates to reduce feedstock expenses. Specifically, it examines the production of biomass and the recovery of PHB from agri-food waste. Furthermore, it emphasizes the characterization of PHB and the significance of hydroxyvalerate (HV) abundance in the formation of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) copolymer. The downstream processing options are described, and the crucial factors associated with industrial scale-up are assessed, including substrates, bioreactors, process parameters, and bioplastic extraction and purification. Additionally, the economic implications of various options are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Fermentation, Food and Food Sustainability)

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