Biopreservation Meets Probiotics in Plant-Based Foods: Coupling Microbial Viability and Shelf-Life Stabilization in the Same Matrix

Plant-based foods are expanding rapidly, but they pose distinctive challenges for both probiotic delivery and shelf-life stabilization. Unlike dairy, plant matrices often lack the buffering capacity, nutrient composition, and processing tradition that make probiotic viability and microbial safety straightforward. Demand for clean-label, minimally processed plant-based products further limits the use of conventional preservatives. Probiotics, postbiotics, and fermentation-derived metabolites offer a dual-purpose route: they can deliver health-promoting microbial function and, simultaneously, contribute to biopreservation through bacteriocins, organic acids, and competitive exclusion. Yet the literature remains fragmented between probiotic-delivery studies that ignore preservation outcomes and biopreservation studies that ignore microbial viability. There is a clear need to consolidate evidence at the intersection, in real plant-based matrices, with both axes measured in the same product.This Research Topic aims to consolidate evidence on the specific intersection of probiotic, postbiotic, and fermentative stabilization with biopreservation in plant-based food matrices. It addresses a practical and largely under-explored challenge: how to deliver and maintain viable beneficial microorganisms, or their fermentation-derived metabolites, while simultaneously extending shelf-life and assuring microbial safety in matrices that often lack the buffering capacity, nutrient composition, or processing tradition of dairy. The Topic will gather original research, reviews, and mini-reviews that present quantified evidence on both axes in the same matrix: probiotic viability, postbiotic activity, or fermentative stabilization outcome on the one hand, and shelf-life, microbial safety, or sensory-quality endpoints on the other. By requiring this coupling, the Topic will help define design principles for plant-based products that meet probiotic and clean-label expectations together, support translation from pilot to industrial scale, and clarify which strain–matrix–process combinations deliver the dual outcome under realistic storage and distribution conditions.We welcome original research, reviews, and mini-reviews addressing:• Probiotic viability and stability in plant-derived beverages, plant milks, fermented plant-based products, juices, and pulps, with concurrent shelf-life evidence.• Postbiotic and fermentation-derived antimicrobial activity (bacteriocins, organic acids, exopolysaccharides, bioactive peptides) as in-matrix biopreservatives.• Strain selection, encapsulation, and matrix-adaptation strategies that simultaneously deliver probiotic function and microbial-safety improvement.• In situ fermentation by starter or adjunct cultures to extend shelf-life of plant-based matrices, with quantified pathogen or spoilage-organism control.• Co-cultures and defined microbial consortia designed for combined functional and preservation roles in challenging plant substrates.• Effect of plant-matrix composition (sugars, polyphenols, antinutrients, oxygen, pH, water activity) on the coupling between probiotic viability and biopreservation efficacy.• Scalable processing routes that preserve both viability and stability from pilot to industrial scale, including validation under realistic storage and distribution conditions.Submissions on probiotic viability, postbiotics, or fermentation in plant-based matrices without concurrent shelf-life, safety, or quality evidence; on biopreservation of plant-based foods without probiotic, postbiotic, or fermentative coupling; on probiotic or biopreservation studies in dairy or animal-based matrices; and on process optimization or microbial characterization without in-matrix evidence on the dual axes fall outside the scope. Topic editors: GNANENDRA Shanmugam, Dr. Chayanika Sarma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82713/biopreservation-meets-probiotics-in-plant-based-foods-coupling-microbial-viability-and-shelf-life-stabilization-in-the-same-matrix