Microbial Fermentation: Balancing Innovation and Scale for Sustainable Food Systems

Microbes have been used since long time for food fermentations and human welfare. Production of novel foods & ingredients, metabolites, functional foods and bio-active compounds, served as major goals in various industries. Microbial fermentations has evolved in recent times, but, the significant developments and innovations are still lacking. Metabolic engineering of microbial strains, process development, AI-driven bio-process approaches, cost-effective substrates, value addition to the food waste, microbes in circular economy, food security need to be explored. This Research Topic aims to set the stage for a comprehensive dialogue bridging technological innovations and the scaling of microbial fermentation for sustainable food production. It seeks to gather contributions that address critical scientific and practical questions, including overcoming technical bottlenecks, evaluating scalability, assessing real-world sustainability impacts, and engaging with regulatory and societal perspectives. By encouraging multidisciplinary investigations, this Research Topic hopes to chart actionable pathways for the transition from innovative concepts to practical and scalable food system solutions.• Innovations in strain engineering and microbial consortia for food applications• Sustainable feedstock sourcing and upstream process integration• Scale-up and bioprocess optimization for industrial fermentation• Life cycle assessment and environmental impact analyses of fermentation-based foods• Economic modeling, market pathways, and regulatory considerations for novel food products• Consumer perception, labeling, and acceptance of fermentation-driven foods• Case studies bridging laboratory breakthroughs to commercial food production• Precision fermentation for specific metabolites-based product development• Innovations/ advances in AI-driven bioprocess technology for food fermentations• Industrial microbiology and food fermentations: Global and sustainable circular economy Topic editors: Mukesh Yadav, Veronica Vendramin, Amit Kumar, Debendra K. Sahoo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82729/microbial-fermentation-balancing-innovation-and-scale-for-sustainable-food-systems