Crop diseases pose a constant threat to agricultural production as these can cause significant yield losses and impact food quality. In the past decades, chemical agents such as pesticides have been extensively and repeatedly used, causing many environmental and public health concerns and led to the development of pathogens persistence. On the other hand, after the harvest period, ensuring food safety and quality throughout the supply chain is also essential. Contamination, improper handling, and inadequate storage and transportation practices can lead to foodborne illnesses and impact consumer confidence.

Managing diseases sustainably while minimizing reliance on chemical agents is a critical but pivotal challenge to ensure food security and sustainable agriculture production.

Sustainable solutions have been found in agents derived from natural sources that are considered environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical agents, used for controlling diseases and for promoting the plant’s growth. Commonly used biological agents in the agri-food field can be divided into two types: living and non-living agents. Living agents include antagonistic microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and viruses (bacteriophage). Non-living agents include essential oils, plant extracts, plant compounds (like thymol and carvacrol…etc), enzymes, insect pheromones, and RNA interference.

These gaps primarily pertain to the insufficient knowledge surrounding emerging pathogens or novel diseases that impact agriculture and livestock, resulting in substantial economic losses and posing challenges to food safety. Investigating the various elements that contribute to the occurrence and dissemination of these diseases, as well as formulating efficacious measures for prevention and control, would be of great significance in addressing this existing research deficiency.

This Research Topic aims to identify studies that seek to address research gaps in the field of food safety. This collection welcomes studies exploring biological agents that could prevent and control emerging pathogens, and their characterization. Furthermore, factors contributing to the emergence and spread of these pathogens, including the use of pesticides and the antibiotic and antifungal resistance could also be included.

This collection welcomes articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and policy papers based on original research are encouraged in this section. Possible subthemes include but are not limited to, the following:

1) Characterization of the biological control agents.

2) Advanced biological control agents to treat or prevent disease in pre-harvest and during the postharvest period.

3) Insights into the persistence and resistance mechanism of the pathogens throughout the supply chain.

5) Factors contributing to the pathogens' emergence and spread.

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Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

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