Innovations for Sustainable Food Processing and Supply Chain Management

Dear Collegues,

The global food system today is beset by serious challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, malnutrition, climate change, plastic pollution, uncertainty in trade policies, resource degradation, biodiversity loss, a growing and ageing population, urbanization, etc. Food demand is on the rise due to population growth, rising income, and changing consumption patterns; production and prices have become more volatile; hunger and poverty levels remain high in some countries; and land conversion from forests to estate agriculture exacerbates environmental challenges. COVID-19 raised shown significant alarm towards the importance of functioning food supply chains and the need to further increase their resilience to emergencies and crises such as pandemics, climate change, and geopolitical forces. Safer and nutritious food produce will increasingly be called upon to address a wide range of critical needs for nine billion people by 2050; as well as higher and more resilient incomes for better livelihoods and well-being. Technological developments within the food system most obviously contribute to the economic efficiency of the system, mainly through a reduction in production costs and the adaptation of products to consumer criteria. If recent trends continue, the number of people affected by hunger will surpass 840 million by 2030. At the same time, a profound change in the global food system is needed if we are to nourish the more than 690 million people who are hungry today—and the additional two billion people the world will be by 2050. However, the food system is increasingly expected to meet broader societal objectives, and many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations aspire to that aim, including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well Being), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), etc.

In this context, innovations in food processing and sustainable food production are crucial to help alleviate the perils of hunger and provide nutritious food to tackle nutrient deficiency. Therefore, the implications of innovations within the food system have to be considered through a sustainability perspective. Technological and management innovations have significant effects upon the food system, such as passing materials more quickly through the food supply chain; diminishing the impacts of distance for the sourcing of materials, critical towards safer and high-value production; and impacting upon the structure for enhancing the nutritional values and diversity of the food system. An interesting aspect of innovation is its capacity both to participate in reforming current food systems and to facilitate the development of new models for food production, trading, and consumption.

The key question is: What insights can research provide in this context? Accordingly, this Special Issue will consider submissions of research papers involving, but not limiting to:

1. Food innovations for sustainability and health;
2. Sustainable food supply chain technologies and/or management;
3. The future of food and climate change: innovative green technology in food processing and packaging systems;
4. Farm-to-fork food quality and safety: issues, challenges and systemic approaches.

We invite submissions by scholars from all academic disciplines to shed light on these broad research areas.

Prof. Dr. Anil Kumar Anal
Dr. Takuji W. Tsusaka
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

• innovations
• food systems
• food quality
• supply chain
• food processing
• food technology
• packaging technology
• sustainability
• climate action