Physical-Chemical Interactions and Composition-Structure-Property Modifications During Processing: Food Quality, Nutrition, and Health

Healthier foods have received unprecedented attention in the last couple of years. Different units of food processing assure physicochemical stability and microbiological safety, and simultaneously result in significant modifications in the composition and structure of food matrices, followed by the variations in nutrition and health properties such as intestinal bioaccessibility and bioavailability of functional small molecules of interests. Therefore, the correlation between extrinsic processing factors and composition-structure-properties response has been one of the focuses of food science research, largely relying on food matrices and the applied technique types. In this regard, thermal conditions receive the most attention considering its generalization and high applicability. For current food industries, multiple processing techniques, process strategies, and the combined approaches have been largely proposed, e.g., the uses of emerging external fields including sound, electric and plasma fields. Resultantly, the presence of new-type physico-chemical interaction behavior of minor/major components and composition-structure-property modifications exerted by emerging processing methods or patterns require more elaborate characterization, analysis and summarization over the response of quality, nutritional and health properties of final products.

This Research Topic encourages researchers to submit Original Research and Review articles highlighting the roles of processing-induced physico-chemical modifications and interaction behavior of different intrinsic food components, particularly at molecular levels, in regulating the changes of quality, storability, nutrition and health characteristics of food products. Researchers working on the development of analysis, evaluation and characterization techniques to tackle issues related to complicated network of chemical changes, microstructural imaging and modeling as well as in vitro / in vivo nutrition effects are also encouraged to contribute. Healthier food can be obtained via food re-formulation and microstructure designing associated with processing parameters, relying on the accumulation of knowledge about the correlation between food structure, gastrointestinal fate of nutrients and satiety response.

This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, systematic reviews, technology and code, and methods, covering, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Novel characterization techniques applied to monitor processing effects;
- Metabolic and omic characterization of bio-processing foods;
- Characterization of composition-structure-property relation of newly developed food resources during processing;
- Chemical modifications of food components (e.g., protein, lipid, carbohydrates, phytochemicals, etc.) during traditional thermal processing and emerging nonthermal processing processes or the combined patterns;
- Effects of the chemical modifications during processing on nutrition and health;
- Interaction between food components as affected by processing parameters, as well as its effects on nutritional properties (e.g., digestibility, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, etc.);
- Food safety challenges and strategies for processing and preservation processes.