**Contents**


#### **Qijiao Xie, Yang Yue and Daohua Hu**


#### **James L. Chamberlain, Dietrich Darr and Kathrin Meinhold**


## **About the Editors**

**Alessandra Durazzo** was awarded her master's in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology cum laude in 2003 and Ph.D. in Horticulture in 2010. Since 2005, she has been a Researcher at the CREA—Research Centre for Food and Nutrition. The core of her research is the study of chemical, nutritional, and bioactive components of food, with particular regard to the wide spectrum of substances classes and their nutraceutical features. For several years, she was involved in national and international research projects on the evaluation of several factors (agronomic practices, processing, etc.) that affect food quality, such as the levels of bioactive molecules and the total antioxidant properties as well as their possible impact on the biological role played by bioactive components in human physiology. Her research activities are also aimed toward developing, managing, and updating the Food Composition Database as well as Bioactive Compounds and Dietary Supplements databases; particular attention is given towards the harmonization of analytical procedures and classification and codification of dietary supplements.

**Massimo Lucarini** received his master's in Industrial Chemistry cum laude from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy (1992) where he was also awarded his Ph.D. in Chemistry. His main research activities are aimed at the evaluation of nutrient content, molecules with biological and antinutrient activity in foods and diets, and stability studies of technological treatments of food products using specific process markers. Particular interest is addressed to evaluation of the nutritional quality of foods, the bioavailability of nutrients and bioactive components and their interaction with the food matrix (using in vitro models and cellular models), and applications in the nutraceutical field; recent attention has focused on the exploitation of waste from the agri-food industry, with a view toward sustainable agri-food production. In relation to the study of bioactive molecules, he has gained wide experience in this field, ranging from studies of carotenoids to phenolic substances, and from caseinophosphopeptides (CPP) to the components of dietary fiber. An integral part of the performed research is linked to institutional activity, including food composition tables, guidelines for healthy nutrition, and evaluation of fraud risk in the agri-food system. In relation to the production system, the effects of technological treatments on molecules of nutritional interest are also evaluated. He is also interested in using natural substances with strong antioxidant properties to improve the shelf-life of food products. His research activity also aims at the development of new analytical methods, the exchange of scientific information, and the acquisition of new skills both at the national and international level through training courses, participation in congresses, and seminars. The dissemination activity is carried out through the production of scientific articles, interviews released in national journals and broadcasting systems, the creation of web pages, and participation in congresses and educational and informative activities.

**Massimo Zaccardelli** is Research Director at CREA Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, located in Pontecagnano (Salerno, Italy). He obtained his Certificate of Agricultural Expert from I.T.A.S. of Ponticelli (Naples, Italy) in 1985, degree in Agricultural Science from University of Bologna (Italy) in 1991, and Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from University of Bologna (Italy) in 1998. His research topics are the use of ecocompatible agronomic techniques based on the production and use of compost and compost tea, antagonistic and PGPR microorganisms, and natural substances (saponins, polyphenols, essential oils, glucosinolates) for the control of soil-borne and aerial-borne plant pathogens of vegetable crops, optionally using biodegradable biopolymers as carriers. In recent years, he has been studying, using RNA-Seq, the effects of PGPR, compost tea, and humic acids treatments on tomato plants and, moreover, microbiological composition of suppressive compost, compost tea, and soils amended with compost using culturable methods and metagenomic approaches. Other research topics include the characterization of commercial and local varieties of grain leguminous (bean, chickpea, lentil, lupin, grasspea) and characterization and use of most efficient rhizobial strains as inoculants. He has worked on numerous nationally and internationally funded projects on the previously described topics. He has published more than 300 scientific contributions in international and national scientific magazines and congresses.

**Antonello Santini** Ph.D., is Professor of Food Chemistry and Food Chemistry and Analysis of Food and Nutraceuticals at the Departments of Pharmacy and Agriculture of the University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy. He is also Visiting Professor at the Albanian University of Tirana, Albania. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences. His research areas of interest are substantiated by many international collaborations, mainly in the field of food; food chemistry, nutraceuticals, functional food; supplements; recovery of natural compounds bioactive using ecosustainable and environmentally friendly techniques from agro-food byproducts; nanocompounds; nanonutraceuticals; food risk assessment, safety and contaminants; mycotoxins and secondary metabolites; food analysis; and chemistry and food education. He is responsible for numerous funded research projects and general cultural agreements established between the University of Napoli Federico II and many Universities worldwide. His research activity is substantiated by more than 200 papers in reputed peer-reviewed international journals. He is a member of the European Food Safety Authority EFSA, ERWG, Parma, Italy; member of the Italian Authority for Food Safety (CNSA), Italian Ministry of Health, Rome Italy; member of the Managing Board, Italian Chemistry Society (SCI) Division of Teaching (DD-SCI), Rome, Italy; and expert member of Chemistry, EurSchool, European Commission, Bruxelles, Belgium.

## *Editorial* **Forest, Foods, and Nutrition**

#### **Alessandra Durazzo 1,\*, Massimo Lucarini 1,\*, Massimo Zaccardelli 2,\* and Antonello Santini 3,\***


Received: 30 October 2020; Accepted: 5 November 2020; Published: 9 November 2020

**Abstract:** Forest ecosystems are an important biodiversity environment resource for many species. Forests and trees play a key role in food production and have relevant impact also on nutrition. Plants and animals in the forests make available nutrient-rich food sources, and can give an important contributions to dietary diversity, quality, and quantity. In this context, the Special Issue, entitled "Forest, Food and Nutrition", is focused on the understanding of the intersection and linking existing between forests, food, and nutrition.

**Keywords:** forest; tree; edible forest products; non-edible forest products; nutritional value; biologically activecompounds; food composition databases; dedicated databases; novel food; sustainable agriculture; biodiversity

This Special Issue is addressed on understanding of the intersection and crosslinks existing between forests, food, and nutrition. Forest ecosystems represent relevant biodiverse environment resources of species. Forests and trees have a key role in food production and nutrition. Plants and animals in forests make available nutrient-rich food sources and can give an important contributions to dietary diversity, quality, and quantity. Moreover, forests are a relevant resource for new potentially active vegetal origin active compounds which may have a relevant impact on the diet and also contribute for functional foods, novel foods, and nutraceuticals.

Reimagining forests as an ecosystems able to support sustainable food production, allows to set a new horizon to explore. In this context, sustainable agriculture and forest vegetal resources represent a new aspect in the expansion of agricultural forest landscapes. Rediscovering the contributions of forests to food and nutrition area is leading to a relevant transition in the global food systems [1]. Firstly, the development and implementation of sustainable managemen<sup>t</sup> of forest, as well as the optimization of yields of wild foods and fodder was here treated. As instance, the study of Kwon et al. [2] is focused on the control of fungal diseases and implementation in yields of Jujube Fruit (*Zizyphus jujuba* Miller var. inermis Rehder) orchard by means of *Lysobacter antibioticus* HS124. research on the promotion and valorization of foods from forests were discussed.

The nutritional value of forest foods has been exploited and promoted, throughout the evaluation of wild foods, to be addressed to a responsible human consumption and sustainable use of natural resources [3]. The identification, isolation, and quantification of compounds with nutritional and nutraceutical character are here outlined. The description of the main components and an assessment of their interactions, in relation particularly to factors, i.e., cultivar, weather, soil, and others have been discussed [4,5]. As instance, the geographical distribution and environmental correlation of eleutherosides and isofraxidin in *Eleutherococcus senticosus* from natural populations in the forests at Northeast of China were studied by Guo et al. [4]. The need of an updated overview, classification, and cataloguing of edible and non-edible forest products is emerging and triggering the interest of research.

Conventional and emerging procedures, with particular regards to green technologies have been reported. Innovativeg analytical techniques, i.e., multi-elemental analysis, isotopic ratio mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and nanotechnologies, joined with chemometrics, have been discussed [6,7]. In this context, it is worth mentioning the innovative research of Zhang et al. [8] on transcriptome analysis of Elm (*Ulmus pumila*) fruit in order identify genes and pathways associated phytonutrients.

The nutritional implications and the benefits of forest products have been outlined addressing the role of food forests in human nutrition. The discussion of the role of forest foods rich in compounds with nutrients and biologically active compounds to complement people's diet and the contribution of forest foods to a healthy diet has been exploited, adding information to the area of interest. The beneficial potential of medicinal plants and herbs has been investigated in di fferent papers [9–12]. Functionally, extracts and biologically active components [13–18] from forest products are experiencing grea<sup>t</sup> interest for both research and potential application in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic fields [19,20]. Fernández-Cervantes et al. [20] studied the essential oils of *Chamaemelum fuscatum* (Brot.) Vasc. from Spain and promoted and reinforce its ethnobotanical use. Furthermore, an application of nutraceuticals in plant defense is described throughout the case study of sage on a spontaneous Mediterranean plant to control phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria [21].

The elucidation of the role of forests for food security and nutrition was assessed, with attention to the contribution of wild and forest foods to nutrient intake among local communities. Moreover, the social and economic impact was investigated in several papers.

For instance, the study of Dejene et al. [22] attempted to provide and document Wild Edible Fruit Tree Species in Ethiopia as implementation of managemen<sup>t</sup> strategy for sustainable utilization of natural resource. Aye et al. [23] described how mangrove forest contributes to the livelihood and dietary habits of local communities in Ayeyarwaddy Region, in Myanmar.

The ethnomycological knowledge was increased throughout semi-structured interviews with the Amhara, Agew, and Sidama ethnic groups in Ethiopia, as reported by Zeleke et al. [24]. Vlad et al. [25] studied and promoted blackberry as a traditional nutraceutical food resource from an area with high anthropogenic impact. Ag úndez et al. [26] studied local preferences for production of shea nut and butter in Northern Benin. Darr et al. [27] mapped the diversity of baobab (*Adansonia digitata* L.) products in Malawi by studying the preferences of consumers and examining the major attributes on their market price.

In the food policy scenario, the work of Xie et al. [28] studied the possible constraints to the implementation of urban edible landscapes in China.

This Special Issue end points have been to contribute to the growth of this area of research, trigger research interest on forest food and its implications and impact on food security and nutrition, sustainability, novel food sources and their use, by adding information scientifically substantiated with new data.

We would like to thank all the authors and the reviewers of the papers published in this Special Issue for their grea<sup>t</sup> contributions and e fforts. We are also grateful to the editorial board members and to the sta ff of the Journal for their kind support in the preparation steps of this Special Issue.

**Author Contributions:** All authors listed (A.D., M.L., M.Z. and A.S.) have made a substantial contribution to the work, and approved it for publication. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
