About this Research Topic
Fermentation has been used for thousands of years to produce various foods and beverages. In recent decades, research has been increasingly devoted to studying the microbiome of fermented food and beverages, unraveling the main aspects of the ecology of bacteria, fungi, and yeasts, and their impacts on product quality. Further, a series of technical, technological, and conceptual advances have provided novel insights that offered the tools and the necessary theoretical background to study the establishment of food’s microbiome as well as the interactions between their members and the environment. Recently, research is focused on the functionality of fermented foods, namely the health benefits associated with their consumption. The health benefits are attributed to the combination of three factors, namely the quality of the raw materials, the metabolic capacity of the microbial strains, and parameters associated with the production technology.
The science of food fermentation has evolved very quickly, mainly from the development of omic approaches widely used in studies around the world. Novel powerful technologies have enabled culture-independent assessment of the whole microbiome, gene transcription analysis at the microecosystem level as well as rapid and accurate metabolomic analysis. Integration of such data through bioinformatic tools improves our understanding and offers further elucidation of the microniche construction and the physiological responses of their members to external stimuli, which may ultimately lead to products that are customized according to consumer needs.
The aim of the present Research Topic is to collect articles that offer new perspectives in the biotechnology of fermented food and beverages, their microbial composition and dynamics during fermentation, the effect that biotic and abiotic factors may have on the development of the microecosystem and the metabolome, with particular emphasis on the fate of bioactive compounds and the associated health benefits.
We invite authors to submit original research, reviews, and perspectives on topics such as, but not limited to:
• Fermented foods and beverages: Source of probiotics, prebiotics and functional properties
• Lactic acid fermentation and bioactive metabolites
• Yeast fermentation and bioactive metabolites
• Eukaryotic organisms in fermented foods
• Molecular techniques used to unravel the health benefits of fermented foods
• Omics in traditional fermented foods and beverages
• Molecular techniques in the microbial ecology of fermented foods
• Food safety in fermented foods
• Fermented food market and bio-economy
• Fermentation derived changes in food biomolecules, implication on their physicochemical properties and potential application in food systems
• Plant bacterial and fungal endophytes influence on nutrient bioaccessibility and availability in fermented foods
• Fermentation derived Microbial enzymes as a tool for biosynthesis of bioactive and flavour metabolites
• Fermented food and global food security
The science of food fermentation has evolved very quickly, mainly from the development of omic approaches widely used in studies around the world. Novel powerful technologies have enabled culture-independent assessment of the whole microbiome, gene transcription analysis at the microecosystem level as well as rapid and accurate metabolomic analysis. Integration of such data through bioinformatic tools improves our understanding and offers further elucidation of the microniche construction and the physiological responses of their members to external stimuli, which may ultimately lead to products that are customized according to consumer needs.
The aim of the present Research Topic is to collect articles that offer new perspectives in the biotechnology of fermented food and beverages, their microbial composition and dynamics during fermentation, the effect that biotic and abiotic factors may have on the development of the microecosystem and the metabolome, with particular emphasis on the fate of bioactive compounds and the associated health benefits.
We invite authors to submit original research, reviews, and perspectives on topics such as, but not limited to:
• Fermented foods and beverages: Source of probiotics, prebiotics and functional properties
• Lactic acid fermentation and bioactive metabolites
• Yeast fermentation and bioactive metabolites
• Eukaryotic organisms in fermented foods
• Molecular techniques used to unravel the health benefits of fermented foods
• Omics in traditional fermented foods and beverages
• Molecular techniques in the microbial ecology of fermented foods
• Food safety in fermented foods
• Fermented food market and bio-economy
• Fermentation derived changes in food biomolecules, implication on their physicochemical properties and potential application in food systems
• Plant bacterial and fungal endophytes influence on nutrient bioaccessibility and availability in fermented foods
• Fermentation derived Microbial enzymes as a tool for biosynthesis of bioactive and flavour metabolites
• Fermented food and global food security
Keywords: Fermented foods, Lactic acid bacteria, Yeast, Eukaryotic organisms, Omics, Microbiome, Food safety, Bioactive metabolites, Probiotics, Prebiotics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
