Food Microbiology: Foodborne Pathogens and Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

In the second half of the twentieth century, food production shifted globally, increasing production and stabilizing prices. Food production systems have become very efficient, high yields, quality, and safety and low production costs. Today, we are facing stagnating production, highly dependent on the availability and costs of energy, and that might not be sustainable in the near future. Actual war conflicts also constitute a threat to food accessibility for consumers in some parts of the world. Thus, food safety issues may not seem to be of the utmost importance.

A circular economy would improve sustainability. The reduction in food waste and development of plant-based and other edible alternatives to products of animal origin could improve food accessibility. However, they also present new challenges and pose questions about undesirable, opportunistic, or pathogenic microorganisms and their secondary toxic metabolites. Attention must be paid to the emergence of (new) food safety hazards. Have we collected enough data to conduct exposure or risk assessments?

This Special Issue is devoted to these microbiological challenges and answering questions similar to those listed above.

Prof. Dr. Lubomir Valik
Guest Editor

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. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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.

• emerging microbiological food safety hazards and food-borne diseases in the food chain, including new circular food systems
• qualitative and quantitative insight into the presence and behaviour (growth, survival, inactivation) of pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms in raw materials and foods, including food alternatives and edible insects
• application of predictive microbiology approaches and tools
• microbiological exposure assessment contributing to decision-making in the prevention of food-borne diseases
• efficacy of food, preventive and processing approaches aimed at reducing or inactivating microorganisms in the food chain
• presence of persistent micro-organisms emerging in food production and their behaviour in relation to non-persistent micro-organisms
• microbial interaction between pathogens and background microbiota in fermented foods