Engineering Functional Fermented Dairy: Advances in Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics

Fermented dairy products—yogurt, kefir, fermented milk, and cheese—remain among the most effective and widely consumed vehicles for delivering live probiotics, prebiotic substrates, and synbiotic combinations to the human gut. The global functional dairy market is projected to exceed USD 70 billion within the next decade, reflecting strong consumer and industry demand for scientifically validated, gut-health-promoting dairy foods. Yet translating this demand into effective products remains challenging: probiotic viability during processing, cold-chain storage, and gastrointestinal transit is inconsistent, and the interactions between starter cultures, prebiotic fibers, and the dairy matrix are still incompletely characterized. Recent advances in microencapsulation, co-encapsulation strategies, and precision fermentation are opening new avenues for stabilizing bioactive strains and metabolites, while growing interest in postbiotics and fermentation-derived bioactive peptides is reshaping how functionality is defined and measured in these products.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of the microbiological, biochemical, and technological principles underlying the design of next-generation functional fermented dairy products, bridging strain-level microbiology with applied food science. It focuses on the technological and formulation science behind these products, such as how they are designed, stabilized, and characterized, rather than their clinical or epidemiological health outcomes.We welcome original research, reviews, and mini-reviews addressing:Design, formulation, and quality evaluation of novel probiotic-, prebiotic-, and synbiotic-enriched dairy products• Technological strategies (encapsulation, matrix engineering, process optimization) to enhance probiotic survival and stabilitySynergistic interactions between starter cultures, probiotic strains, prebiotic fibers, and dairy matrix components• Fermentation-derived bioactive metabolites and postbiotics, including bioactive peptides, organic acids, and short-chain fatty acids• In vitro digestion, fermentation models, and cell-based assays evaluating bioaccessibility and gut microbiota-modulating potential Topic editors: JAGRANI MINJ, Aparna Sudhakaran V, Anuradha Kumari Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84192/engineering-functional-fermented-dairy-advances-in-probiotics-prebiotics-and-synbiotics