Safety and Nutritional Quality of Mediterranean Food and Food Products—2nd Edition

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2023) | Viewed by 9952

Special Issue Editors

Department of Biomedical, Dental, Morphological and Functional Images Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
Interests: characterization of food bioactives; reclaim and valorization of agro-food waste; analytical methods in food analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the success of the first edition of "Safety and Nutritional quality of Mediterranean Food and Food Products", we decided to launch a second edition of the Special Issue, with the aim of exploring the added value of the Mediterranean diet under a broader perspective.

While still focusing on cornerstones such as health and well-being, circularity and sustainability, the Mediterranean diet has been constantly recreated by communities in response to changes in their environment and history, to better suit the current availability of food supplies, nutritional needs, and eating habits.

Consequently, the pyramid of the Mediterranean eating pattern had to change to adapt to a world where undernutrition and food globalization together impose a significant burden on human health and wellbeing, and constant efforts are required to ensure the human race benefits from this complex network of food-associated habits that began in ancient times as a mixture of lifestyle and culture and which ended up as an emerging medical prescription for human health and a model for preserving the environment and its biodiversity.

Hence, we welcome the submission of reviews and research articles that emphasize the multidisciplinary evidence of the Mediterranean diet, including those strictly dealing with the safety and quality of both traditional and novel products; those addressing their nutritional value, in terms of genome, transcriptome, or metabolome of phenotypes; as well as consumer lifestyles and behaviors related to the Mediterranean diet.

We hope that the second edition of this Special Issue will provide a better understanding of the complex interactions of Mediterranean diet with nutrition, health, sustainability, and culture.

Dr. Ambrogina Albergamo
Prof. Dr. Giuseppa Di Bella
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

  • Mediterranean diet
  • bioactives
  • food and environmental sustainability
  • food safety and quality
  • human nutrition and health
  • circular economy

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

28 pages, 4441 KiB  
Article
Mediterranean Diet, Sustainability, and Tourism—A Study of the Market’s Demand and Knowledge
by Marzia Ingrassia, Luca Altamore, Pietro Columba, Sara Raffermati, Giuseppe Lo Grasso, Simona Bacarella and Stefania Chironi
Foods 2023, 12(13), 2463; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12132463 - 23 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2245
Abstract
Globalization intensified competitiveness among agribusinesses worldwide in recent years. The European Commission focused on enhancing sustainable agriculture and food products’ territorial uniqueness for competing in the international market. The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a model of feeding and lifestyle belonging to the ancient [...] Read more.
Globalization intensified competitiveness among agribusinesses worldwide in recent years. The European Commission focused on enhancing sustainable agriculture and food products’ territorial uniqueness for competing in the international market. The Mediterranean diet (MD) is a model of feeding and lifestyle belonging to the ancient Mediterranean culture, which also embodies a sustainable food system. Therefore, in 2010, UNESCO recognized the MD as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and Sicily (southern Italy) is its official physical site. Despite its worldwide fame, the notion of the MD runs the risk of being mystified because it is described most often as something that does not correspond to what it is holistically. The aim of this study is to know the market demand of the MD by Italian people and foreign tourists in Sicily and the level of knowledge of the MD by users, both consumers and experts. A survey at top Sicilian traditional restaurants with owners/chefs and their clients was carried out. The study provided an in-depth understanding of the current lack of knowledge about the holistic meaning of the MD. The study highlights the desirability of integrated science–policy actions (also for communication) and proposes a vertical communication system to revive and direct the MD demand toward its holistic model. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 1724 KiB  
Article
Monitoring Moroccan Honeys: Physicochemical Properties and Contamination Pattern
by Abir Massous, Tarik Ouchbani, Vincenzo Lo Turco, Federica Litrenta, Vincenzo Nava, Ambrogina Albergamo, Angela Giorgia Potortì and Giuseppa Di Bella
Foods 2023, 12(5), 969; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12050969 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1937
Abstract
The physicochemical traits and an array of organic and inorganic contaminants were monitored in monofloral honeys (i.e., jujube [Ziziphus lotus], sweet orange [Citrus sinensis], PGI Euphorbia [Euphorbia resinifera] and Globularia alyphum) from the Moroccan Béni Mellal-Khénifra [...] Read more.
The physicochemical traits and an array of organic and inorganic contaminants were monitored in monofloral honeys (i.e., jujube [Ziziphus lotus], sweet orange [Citrus sinensis], PGI Euphorbia [Euphorbia resinifera] and Globularia alyphum) from the Moroccan Béni Mellal-Khénifra region (i.e., Khénifra, Beni Méllal, Azlal and Fquih Ben Salah provinces). Moroccan honeys were in line with the physicochemical standards set by the European Union. However, a critical contamination pattern has been outlined. In fact, jujube, sweet orange, and PGI Euphorbia honeys contained pesticides, such as acephate, dimethoate, diazinon, alachlor, carbofuran and fenthion sulfoxide, higher than the relative EU Maximum Residue Levels. The banned 2,3′,4,4′,5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB118) and 2,2′,3,4,4′,5,5′-heptachlorobiphenyl (PCB180) were detected in all samples and quantified in jujube, sweet orange and PGI Euphorbia honeys; while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as chrysene and fluorene, stood out for their higher contents in jujube and sweet orange honeys. Considering plasticizers, all honeys showed an excessive amount of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), when (improperly) considering the relative EU Specific Migration Limit. Furthermore, sweet orange, PGI Euphorbia and G. alypum honeys were characterized by Pb exceeding the EU Maximum Level. Overall, data from this study may encourage Moroccan governmental bodies to strengthen their monitoring activity in beekeeping and to find suitable solutions for implementing more sustainable agricultural practices. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 3251 KiB  
Article
The Large and Diverse Family of Mediterranean Flat Breads: A Database
by Antonella Pasqualone, Francesca Vurro, Carmine Summo, Mokhtar H. Abd-El-Khalek, Haneen H. Al-Dmoor, Tomislava Grgic, Maria Ruiz, Christopher Magro, Christodoulos Deligeorgakis, Cynthia Helou and Patricia Le-Bail
Foods 2022, 11(15), 2326; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11152326 - 04 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5229
Abstract
An in-depth survey was conducted by collecting information from web sources, supplemented by interviews with experts and/or bakers, to identify all the flat breads (FBs) produced in the nine Mediterranean countries involved in the FlatBreadMine Project (Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, [...] Read more.
An in-depth survey was conducted by collecting information from web sources, supplemented by interviews with experts and/or bakers, to identify all the flat breads (FBs) produced in the nine Mediterranean countries involved in the FlatBreadMine Project (Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta and Spain), and to have an insight into their technical and cultural features. A database with information on 143 FB types (51 single-layered, 15 double-layered, 66 garnished, 11 fried) was established. Flours were from soft wheat (67.4%), durum wheat (13.7%), corn (8.6%), rye, sorghum, chickpea, and chestnut (together 5.2%). The raising agents were compressed yeast (55.8%), sourdough (16.7%), baking powder (9.0%), but 18.6% of FBs were unleavened. Sixteen old-style baking systems were recorded, classified into baking plates and vertical ovens (tannur and tabun). Artisanal FBs accounted for 82%, while the industrial ones for 7%. Quality schemes (national, European or global) applied to 91 FBs. Fifteen FBs were rare, prepared only for family consumption: changes in lifestyle and increasing urbanization may cause their disappearance. Actions are needed to prevent the reduction of biodiversity related to FBs. Information in the database will be useful for the selection of FBs suitable to promotional activities and technical or nutritional improvement. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop