Novel Drying Technologies in Sustainable Food Production
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 2282
Special Issue Editors
Interests: innovative food processing technologies; ultrasound technology; food safety engineering
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Drying is one of the oldest and most widely employed methods for food preservation. The primary function of food drying is to remove the moisture content, thereby inhibiting the growth of spoilage-causing bacteria, extending the shelf-life, and reducing the weight and volume of the product, thus making it easier and more cost-effective to transport and store. Traditional drying is an energy-intensive thermal operation; it requires the input of heat into the product to remove moisture in the form of vapor. The heating process in drying, however, has become a major issue for heat-sensitive products, such as foods, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. The excessive heating of foods in drying, for instance, triggers and accelerates many kinds of quality degradation reactions, e.g., a loss of vitamin C. More significantly, traditional drying operations heavily rely on fossil fuels for heat generation, thus contributing substantially to carbon emissions. Over the years, a number of drying process intensification strategies have been developed to address the dual challenge of slow drying and quality degradation in food.
This Special Issue aims to focus on recent developments and applications of emerging thermal technologies (ultrasound, microwave, ohmic, infrared, etc.) and their combinations in the drying of foods and food ingredients. In addition, articles investigating all the fundamental aspects of drying, as well as strategies to minimize the negative impact of thermal drying, are also welcomed.
Prof. Dr. Hao Feng
Dr. Guibing Chen
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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.
Keywords
- innovative drying technology
- pretreatment
- physical properties
- nutritional quality
- by-products
- bioactive compounds
- energy consumption
- thermal technologies
