Emerging Food Processing Technologies: Current Status and Future Trends

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the food industry has become a very dynamic and competitive area due principally to free commerce worldwide and to the increasing awareness of consumers. In the past, the food industry's approach was to provide safe foods with long shelf-lives; however, nowadays, it is not sufficient to simply produce safe foods, as markets demand products with a significant nutritional contribution, bioactive compounds, and good sensory properties. More than two decades ago, novel food-processing technologies, based on high-tech or cutting-edge advances, started to emerge to address productivity issues, extending a product’s shelf-life without affecting the nutritional content, organoleptic attributes, and product specifications. Generally, these technologies can be divided into thermal and non-thermal methods depending on their basic principle of action. The reported advantages of novel processing technologies over conventional ones are the retention of sensory attributes and improved functional properties by guaranteeing the same safety level. Although some of the novel technologies date back to the early 20th century, their actual applications are still in a phase that needs a substantial amount of research to prove their pragmatic feasibility. Limitations, including high investment costs, incomplete control of variables associated with the process, and a lack of regulatory approval, have delayed the wider implementation of these technologies on an industrial scale. The readiness and commercialization level of novel and emerging technologies varies both geographically and among more than 20 available techniques. The aim of this Special Issue is to review the potential feasibility of emerging technologies for food stabilization, widen our comprehension of their effects on food quality, and underline the areas that need further investigation. 

Scope

We encourage authors to submit original and previously unpublished research papers and reviews regarding emerging technologies’ applications to food processing.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Effects of emerging technologies on the quality and stability of animal and vegetable food products, including enzymatic activities, physical properties and microstructure, sensorial properties, microbial load, the content of bioactive compounds, and antioxidant activities;
• Novel technologies that have recently been developed and applied to food products;
• Market reports of foods processed by means of non-conventional technologies;
• Principles of, and experiments using, the various technologies, such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultraviolet light, microwave heating, radiation, infrared heating, ohmic heating, ozone, pressure, and carbon dioxide, power ultrasound, cold plasma, and electrolyzed water;
• Mathematical models for the design of emerging technologies’ processes;
• Comparison, with respect to environmental and sustainability issues, of emerging technologies and conventional ones.  

Prof. Dr. Massimiliano Rinaldi
Dr. Maria Paciulli
Dr. Paola Littardi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• Emerging food-processing technologies
• Non-thermal process
• Food safety