From cultivation to consumption: Microalgae and cyanobacteria in sustainable food systems

Microalgae and cyanobacteria are microscopic, photosynthetic organisms that are attracting growing interest as sources of food ingredients and as potential contributors to more diverse and resilient food systems. They can be cultivated in ponds, tanks, and other controlled systems, including on land unsuitable for conventional agriculture. Their proteins, pigments, lipids, peptides, polysaccharides, and other compounds may support the development of alternative proteins, naturally coloured foods, nutrient-rich products, and new food packaging materials. However, their transition from laboratory and pilot-scale production to widely accepted food applications remains challenging. Variability in composition, inefficient recovery of valuable compounds, nutrient and pigment instability, unfamiliar tastes and textures, safety concerns, regulatory uncertainty, and questions about economic and environmental performance continue to limit wider adoption. Recent work has explored mild processing, fermentation, encapsulation, advanced food structuring, and circular production systems, but these developments are often assessed separately. A more integrated food-systems perspective is needed to connect cultivation and processing with nutrition, safety, consumer acceptance, governance, environmental performance, and equitable access.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how microalgae and cyanobacteria can be developed into safe, nutritious, appealing, and resource-efficient food ingredients and products. It welcomes contributions from food scientists, biologists, engineers, nutritionists, ecologists, economists, policy researchers, legal scholars, anthropologists, and sociologists. Particular attention will be given to research that moves beyond proof-of-concept studies by examining scalability, reproducibility, affordability, regulatory readiness, consumer perceptions, cultural acceptance, and impacts across the food system. The Research Topic also seeks to clarify how cultivation conditions, processing methods, formulation, and food-system governance influence nutritional quality, functionality, safety, environmental performance, and the fair distribution of benefits.To gather further insights into the development of microalgae- and cyanobacteria-based foods, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:Sustainable cultivation, harvesting, and processing of microalgae and cyanobacteria for food applications;Recovery and characterisation of proteins, pigments, lipids, peptides, polysaccharides, and other food-relevant compounds;Encapsulation, emulsions, gels, and other delivery systems that protect nutrients and improve their use in foods;Fermentation and related approaches to improve taste, texture, digestibility, and nutritional value;Alternative proteins, beverages, snacks, and other food products containing microalgae or cyanobacteria;Advanced food structuring, including 3D food printing and other emerging technologies;Food safety, toxicology, allergenicity, contaminants, traceability, and regulatory frameworks;Nutrient absorption, bioaccessibility, health effects, and validation in realistic food matrices;Consumer acceptance, cultural perceptions, food labelling, affordability, and market development;Use of residual biomass in biodegradable or antimicrobial food packaging and other applications;Circular production systems, including resource recovery, wastewater treatment, and responsible management of production residues;Life-cycle assessment, environmental trade-offs, economic feasibility, and social equity across the value chain. Topic editors: Monize Bürck Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85845/from-cultivation-to-consumption-microalgae-and-cyanobacteria-in-sustainable-food-systems