Dear Colleagues,

Fermentation is among the most well-known processes applied in food production since antiquity, and its socioeconomic significance is invaluable. This natural process is the result of microbial metabolic activity. The microbial profile changes significantly during food fermentation (from raw to final product), while the metabolites produced mainly by the dominant microbiota shape the sensorial attributes of the final product. Thus, studying the evolution of microbial communities during food fermentation processing is of great interest, not only to determine the microbiota of the final product but also to enrich our knowledge around a) how microbial communities are changing during processing, b) under which circumstances specific microbial groups predominate against others and drive the whole process, and c) which microbial groups come from raw product and its microenvironment. The latter may contribute to developing a potential linkage between a fermented food with a specific environment (region, terroir, etc.) and thus increase the added value of the product. Today, the determination of microbial communities present in a food sample is routinely studied by both conventional (culture-dependent and/or culture-independent) and modernized molecular approaches (high-throughput sequencing), such as metabarcoding analysis.

For all the aforementioned reasons, the present Special Issue aims to collect both original research and review articles that enrich current knowledge about microbial changes during fermentation (i.e. initial, middle, final stage) of a variety of foods and beverages (dairy products, vegetables, meat products, seafood, alcoholic drinks, etc.), using either conventional or modernized approaches as described above. Studies combining microbial with metabolite profiles during fermentation are also welcome.

Dr. Dimitrios A. Anagnostopoulos
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. 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
• fermented foods and beverages
• microbiota
• culture-dependent techniques
• culture-independent techniques
• high-throughput sequencing
• microbial terroir
• metabolites