Effect of Fermentation Process on Food Flavor: Microbial Diversity, Flavouring Cultures, Food Quality, and New Product Development

Dear Colleagues,

Fermentation is a food sector processing strategy of great interest owing to its capacity to improve the quality of fermented products in terms of shelf life, nutritional and functional quality. The transformation occurs with low energy consumption and allows us to reduce the quantity of synthetic chemical compounds added during the production flow. It becomes crucial to optimise fermentation’s contribution to sensorial quality in terms of promoting a sustainable diet for the consumer and the planet. Improving the flavour of fermented products thus becomes fundamental to guaranteeing the acceptability and reception of products.

Fermenting foods can include hundreds of different species belonging to different genera of bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi. The metabolic/enzymatic activity of all microorganisms helps to modulate the production of molecules and volatile organic compounds capable of influencing the flavour of the finished products.

There are numerous variables/conditions that must be explored in terms of optimising the flavour of a fermented product, e.g., choice of raw material, evaluation of microbial consortia associated with spontaneous fermentations, selection of microbial resources, study of the biosynthetic pathways of interest in model microorganisms, evaluation of the impact of technologies, study of the influence of stressful conditions for microorganisms, combination of different microorganisms, and valorisation of microbiomes.

Furthermore, there are various innovative themes, from the selection of flavouring cultures to the reduction of off-flavours in plant-based productions or those containing alternative protein sources, including the development of new products and the improvement of the sensorial quality of specific matrices to support personalised nutrition.

This Special Issue aims to characterise the effect of the fermentation process on food flavour by publishing comprehensive reviews, original studies, and novel perspectives.

Dr. Mariagiovanna Fragasso
Dr. Vittorio Capozzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• fermentation
• food flavor
• aroma compounds
• microorganisms
• bacteria
• yeasts
• filamentous fungi
• volatile organic compounds