research articles on food biotechnology

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List

Biotechnology Approaches in Food Preservation and Food Safety

Driven by different motivations, we have seen a rise in the demand for “natural”, “preservative-free”, and “clean label” foods. Simultaneously, consumers are expecting safer and also more convenient foods with long shelf lives. This is undoubtedly one of the great challenges of the food industry and an opportunity for “Biotechnology Approaches”.

This Special Issue of Foods , entitled “Biotechnology approaches in Food Preservation and Food Safety”, was devoted to topics focused on biotechnology approaches in the pre- and post-harvesting of produce, food processing and preservation technologies, and methods for monitoring food safety and quality. Subsequent to the peer review process, three original research articles and three reviews were included in this Special Issue of Foods .

Biotechnological approaches are an alternative to the chemical synthesis of many compounds of interest. In Sharma et al. [ 1 ], researchers from Punjabi University (India), Hiroshima University (Japan), and King Saud University (Saudi Arabia) describe the development of a laboratory-scale bioprocess for high-level fermentative production of L-alanine using metabolically engineered Pediococcus acidilactici BD16 (alaD+). L-alanine is a nonessential amino acid with a wide range of food, pharmaceutical, and veterinary applications. According to the authors, “the novelty of the study is the use of a synthetic system biology-mediated metabolic engineering strategy that abolished the need of complex gene knock-outs for engineering a microbial strain, which may hinder the maximal expression of the desired cloned gene.” The authors suggested that the developed bioprocess using recombinant P. acidilactici BD16 (alaD+) could be the best alternative to the chemical-based commercial synthesis of L-alanine for potential industrial applications.

Studies by Keli et al. [ 2 ] from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, USA, demonstrated that reducing fungicide applications combined with proper handling during the supply chain reduces costs, fruit waste, and maintains overall strawberry quality. This study also reinforced the need to wash strawberries to reduce both the microbial load and the residual fungicide levels.

Gomes et al. [ 3 ] from CBQF, Portuguese Catholic University (Portugal), highlighted the need for defined standard methods to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations of natural antimicrobial compounds. The authors reported that some microorganisms were inhibited by the natural compounds tested using the agar dilution method but not inhibited by the same compounds and at the same concentrations using the drop diffusion technique. In the vision of the authors, “the use of standard techniques such as those used for antimicrobials of clinical applications are crucial to compare results obtained in different studies and different matrices”.

Pinto de Rezende et al. [ 4 ], from the same institution, presented a literature review on techniques to preserve shellfish as an alternative to refrigeration, focusing on the application of biodegradable films and coating technology; superchilling; irradiation; high-pressure processing; hyperbaric storage; and biopreservation with lactic acid bacteria, bacteriocins, or bacteriophages. According to the authors, “although no technique appears to replace refrigeration, the implementation of additional treatments in the seafood processing operation could reduce the need for freezing, extending the shelf life of fresh unfrozen products”.

The use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as biopreservatives has been gaining interest, since they are “generally recognized as safe” and have antibacterial and antifungal activities due to the colonization and competition for nutrients and space or the production of antimicrobial metabolites such as lactic acid, ethanol, and bacteriocins. Martín et al. [ 5 ], from the Universidad de Extremadura (Spain), conducted a review on LAB-based strategies to control L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meats and dairy-ripened products. These researchers stated that “The combination of selected LAB strains with antimicrobial compounds, such as acid/sodium lactate and other strategies, as the active packaging could be the next future innovation for eliminating the risk of L. monocytogenes in meat and dairy-ripened products.”

De Oliveira et al. [ 6 ], from Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil, presented a cutting-edge study on the development and application of probiotic-loaded edible films/coatings to preserve fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetables. The primary materials used for the formulations, their effects on the survival of probiotics and the impacts of their application on the quality, safety, and storability of the coated fruit and vegetables were addressed. This is a matter of the utmost relevance as the number of severe outbreaks associated with fresh produce has been increasing and fruit and vegetable wastage between primary production and the final consumer represents between 35% and 55% of the production volume.

In summary, the different papers published in this Special Issue address different “Biotechnology Approaches” in the food sector and highlight the need for more research in this field. We thank the authors for their valuable contributions to this Special Issue, which we hope readers will find interesting and instructive.

Acknowledgments

The author J. Barbosa would like to thank the financial support provided by a post-doctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/113303/2015 ( Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia ).

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

J.B. and P.T. contributed equally to the Special Issue, editorial work, and writing this editorial. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Food biotechnology

Guest Editors: Sanket Joshi:  Amity University, India Tanmay Sarkar:  West Bengal State Council of Technical Education, India Palanivel Velmurugan:  Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (BIHER), India

BMC Biotechnology presents the collection Food biotechnology, which highlights manuscripts on novel research and technological advances that connect biotechnology with the food industry and food products. A range of solutions to tackling this relevant issue may lie with food biotechnological advances and methods that have appeared at an unprecedented rate in the last few decades. With emerging developments of molecular genetic tools, biochemical, enzymatic and metabolic processes applied to food products and systems, and the applications of microbial and biochemical processes e.g. for food improvement and food waste remediation, this growing research field promises relevant advances for the production, improvement and processing of food. This collection brings together original research that covers biotechnological innovations and applications for the development and optimization of food systems and food-related approaches for the future. We showcase research articles and methods that researchers wish to establish in the growing field of food biotechnology.

Meet the Guest Editors

About the collection.

• Collection Articles

Sanket Joshi:  Amity University, India

Food Science and Biotechnology

Food Science and Biotechnology is an international journal focusing on the physical, chemical, biological, and health aspects of food science and technology.

• Published by the Korean Society of Food Science and Technology.
• Welcomes submissions on food chemistry and analysis, food hygiene and toxicology, food microbiology and biotechnology, and food engineering.
• Offers high visibility for work, with over 361,613 article downloads in 2023.
• Provide attractive turnaround times, averaging a month from submission to first decision.
• Hyun-Dong Paik

Societies and partnerships

Latest issue

Volume 33, Issue 13

Latest articles

Nonanoic acid and cholecystokinin induce beige adipogenesis.

• Hyun Ji Park
• Sung-Joon Lee

Transforming plant proteins into plant-based meat alternatives: challenges and future scope

• Priyanka Prajapati
• Meenakshi Garg
• Prabhjot K. Sabharwal

Computational approaches to predict the toxicity of bioactive natural products: a mini review of methodologies

• Kwanyong Choi
• Ji Yeon Kim

Assessment of lycopene, polyphenols, antioxidant compounds, and activities in colored cherry tomato cultivars harvested in Korea

• Minji Joung
• Young-Jun Kim
• Youngjae Shin

Optimization and semi-continuous fermentation of gluco-oligosaccharide production with Weissella cibaria YRK005

• Sungyoon Kim
• Young-Seo Park

Journal updates

Foodtech: trends and prospects for the future of the food industry.

CALL FOR PAPERS for Special Issue (to be published in January 2025) Manuscript submission deadline: October 31, 2024

Comprehensive Approaches to Natural Pigments: Discovery, Biosynthesis, Functions, and Processing

CALL FOR PAPERS for Special Issue (to be published in February 2025) Manuscript submission deadline: October 31, 2024

The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology (KoSFoST)

The Food Science and Biotechnology is an international journal published monthly by the Korean Society of Food Science and Technology (KoSFoST). Publication charges   Please note that KoSFoST charges the authors of accepted manuscripts for publication of original research articles and notes.

Publication charges

The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology charges the authors of accepted manuscripts for publication of original research articles and notes.

Journal information

• CAB Abstracts
• Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)
• Current Contents/Agriculture, Biology & Environmental Sciences
• EI Compendex
• Google Scholar
• IFIS Publishing
• INIS Atomindex
• Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST)
• Korea Citation Index (KCI)
• Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals and Series
• OCLC WorldCat Discovery Service
• PubMedCentral
• Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
• Semantic Scholar
• TD Net Discovery Service
• UGC-CARE List (India)

Rights and permissions

Editorial policies

© The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Information

• Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

• Active Journals
• Find a Journal
• Proceedings Series
• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• For Publishers
• For Societies
• For Conference Organizers
• Open Access Policy
• Institutional Open Access Program
• Special Issues Guidelines
• Editorial Process
• Research and Publication Ethics
• Article Processing Charges
• Testimonials
• Preprints.org
• SciProfiles
• Encyclopedia

Journal Menu

• Aims & Scope
• Editorial Board
• Reviewer Board
• Topical Advisory Panel
• Instructions for Authors
• Special Issues
• Sections & Collections
• Article Processing Charge
• Indexing & Archiving
• Editor’s Choice Articles
• Most Cited & Viewed
• Journal Statistics
• Journal History
• Journal Awards
• Society Collaborations
• Conferences
• Editorial Office

Journal Browser

• arrow_forward_ios Forthcoming issue arrow_forward_ios Current issue
• Vol. 13 (2024)
• Vol. 12 (2023)
• Vol. 11 (2022)
• Vol. 10 (2021)
• Vol. 9 (2020)
• Vol. 8 (2019)
• Vol. 7 (2018)
• Vol. 6 (2017)
• Vol. 5 (2016)
• Vol. 4 (2015)
• Vol. 3 (2014)
• Vol. 2 (2013)
• Vol. 1 (2012)

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

Biotechnology Approaches in Food Preservation and Food Safety

• Print Special Issue Flyer

Special Issue Editors

Special issue information, benefits of publishing in a special issue.

• Published Papers

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section " Food Quality and Safety ".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2022) | Viewed by 29186

Share This Special Issue

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations (UN) adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in September 2015. High standards of safe, nutritious, and affordable food are aligned with the 2030 Agenda goals. From “farm to fork” biotechnology can be used to improve food safety and quality. This Special Issue is devoted to topics focused on biotechnology approaches in pre- and post-harvesting of produce, food processing and preservation technologies, and methods for monitoring food safety and quality.

Consequently, this Special Issue, “Biotechnology Approaches in Food Preservation and Food Safety”, will cover a selection of original research and current review articles related to the use of novel biotechnology approaches to monitoring food safety and quality.

Prof. Paula Cristina Maia Teixeira Dr. Joana Inês Bastos Barbosa Guest Editors

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. Foods 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 2900 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.

• Bacteriocins
• Bacteriophages
• Bioprotectants
• Biotechnology
• Farming systems
• Fermentation
• Food safety
• Starter cultures
• Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
• Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
• Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
• External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
• e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here .

Published Papers (7 papers)

Jump to: Research , Review

Jump to: Editorial , Review

Graphical abstract

Jump to: Editorial , Research

Further Information

Mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

Recent Trends in Food Biotechnology

Original Research 13 July 2023 Isolation and identification of protease-producing Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LX-6 and its application in the solid fermentation of soybean meal Xinyi Huang ,  4 more  and  Xiaoping Yu 1,792 views 0 citations

Loading... Review 28 June 2023 Pullulanase: unleashing the power of enzyme with a promising future in the food industry Bindu Naik ,  8 more  and  Sarvesh Rustagi 4,353 views 10 citations

Original Research 04 April 2023 Protein engineering of NADH pyrophosphatase for efficient biocatalytic production of reduced nicotinamide mononucleotide Ye Liu ,  7 more  and  Zheng-Hong Xu 2,356 views 1 citations

Loading... Review 24 October 2022 Bacteriocin: A natural approach for food safety and food security Dibyajit Lahiri ,  9 more  and  Rina Rani Ray 6,006 views 31 citations

Center for Consumer Research

What is Food Biotechnology?

• June 28, 2017

Every fruit, vegetable, grain and domestic animal we see today is the result of genetic modification. Biotechnology refines and extends methods that produce new plants and animals.

In the past, plant breeders were limited to introducing traits within the same botanical family, such as wheat to wheat. Only pollen from a compatible parent wheat could be used to fertilize the seed-producing plant. The diversity of traits possible from this combination was limited by these genetic compatibility barriers. Today, gene transfer is not confined within cross-breeding species but can cross genetic barriers such as corn to tomato. A gene for a single trait can be identified and transferred from many sources.

Primary Category

• Nutritional Medicine
• Food Technology
• Food Science
• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Food Biotechnology

Food biotechnology and food safety

• January 2021
• International Journal of Science Letters 3(1)
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

• Amasya University

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Kshitij Singh
• Zeeshan Zeeshan
• Sumeet Karna

• Bouchaib Bencharki

• INT J FOOD MICROBIOL

• BIOTECHNOL BIOFUELS

• Ken-ichi Hashimoto

• CURR OPIN BIOTECH

• Daniel Merenstein
• Claire M. Fraser
• Maria L. Marco
• Samuel Michael Rothstein
• Swastik Sen
• Thomas J. Mansell
• Sofia Markakiou

• Sander Wuyts

• J FOOD DRUG ANAL

• Jayanta Kumar Patra

• Gitishree Das
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals

Biotechnology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Biotechnology is a broad discipline in which biological processes, organisms, cells or cellular components are exploited to develop new technologies. New tools and products developed by biotechnologists are useful in research, agriculture, industry and the clinic.

Phage genome engineering with retrons

A method using retron recombineering for phage genome modification may facilitate access to therapeutic phages.

• Ilya Osterman
• Rotem Sorek

Mitochondrial transplants to treat mitochondrial dysfunction

A new approach to treating mitochondrial disorders is based on the transplantation of healthy mitochondria, and improves symptoms and survival in a mouse model of Leigh syndrome — a paediatric mitochondrial disease that is characterized by failure to thrive, lactic acidosis, and progressive degeneration.

• Alessandro Bitto

DNA nanoswitches pack an anti-cancer punch

A DNA origami nanodevice presents its hidden death ligand pattern in the acidic tumour microenvironment to kill cancerous cells, opening opportunities for effective and safe cancer therapy.

• Chenxiang Lin

Related Subjects

• Animal biotechnology
• Applied immunology
• Assay systems
• Biomaterials
• Biomimetics
• Cell delivery
• Environmental biotechnology
• Expression systems
• Functional genomics
• Gene delivery
• Gene therapy
• Industrial microbiology
• Metabolic engineering
• Metabolomics
• Molecular engineering
• Nanobiotechnology
• Nucleic-acid therapeutics
• Oligo delivery
• Peptide delivery
• Plant biotechnology
• Protein delivery
• Regenerative medicine
• Stem-cell biotechnology
• Tissue engineering

Latest Research and Reviews

Using water and wastewater decentralization to enhance the resilience and sustainability of cities

Decentralized source separation offers a cost-effective, resilient alternative to conventional methods, enhancing resource recovery and reducing environmental impacts.

• Manel Garrido-Baserba
• David L. Sedlak

Interim safety and efficacy of gene therapy for RLBP1 -associated retinal dystrophy: a phase 1/2 trial

This phase I/II clinical trial was designed to assess safety and efficacy of gene therapy for Bothnia dystrophy, an inherited retinal degeneration leading to blindness. Kvanta et al . show interim results from 12 patients with meaningfully improved visual function in dim light.

• Anders Kvanta
• Nalini Rangaswamy
• Helder André

Controlled mechanochemical coupling of anti-junctions in DNA origami arrays

Allostery is a hallmark of cellular function and important in every biological system, but difficult to artificially mimic. Here, the authors report an approach to study aspects of allostery in artificial systems, using a DNA origami domino array structure which, upon binding of trigger DNA strands, undergoes a stepwise allosteric conformational change that can be monitored by a double FRET probe.

• Martina Pfeiffer
• Philip Tinnefeld

Maglev-fabricated long and biodegradable stent for interventional treatment of peripheral vessels

The interventional treatment of limb-threatening ischemia calls for a medical stent. Herein, a long and biodegradable stent appropriate for below-the-knee artery is developed based on a metal-polymer composite material, where a magnetic levitation is employed to achieve a homogeneous coating.

• Wanqian Zhang
• Jiandong Ding

ARViS: a bleed-free multi-site automated injection robot for accurate, fast, and dense delivery of virus to mouse and marmoset cerebral cortex

To express a biosensor in primate cortex, multiple injections of virus carrying the sensor gene are necessary. Here, the authors develop an automated robotic system for multiple, safe injections.

• Shinnosuke Nomura
• Shin-Ichiro Terada
• Masanori Matsuzaki

Hepatic and immune modulatory effectiveness of lactoferrin loaded Selenium nanoparticles on bleomycin induced hepatic injury

• Khaled G. Abdel-Wahhab
• Mahmoud Ashry
• Fathia A. Mannaa

News and Comment

I make fake eyes for those who need them

As the only ocularist in Uganda, Franklin Wasswa produces customized prosthetic eyes for people who’ve lost their own to injury or disease.

• Linda Nordling

Molecular architecture of the human brain vasculature

• Elisa Floriddia

A biodegradable tent electrode

An article in Nature Electronics reports the development of a biodegradable, minimally invasive tent electrode for large-area cortex monitoring.

• Caroline Beyer

Cells as active crosslinkers in living materials

An article in Nature Materials reports a new method for generating macroscale living materials by using cells as active crosslinkers.

• Sadra Bakhshandeh

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies