Transforming Food Waste Through Fermentation: A Dual Approach to Sustainability and Probiotic Innovation

In the field of waste management, the issue of food waste is critical, with severe environmental repercussions across global, regional, and local levels.
Traditionally, food waste disposal methods, managed through landfill disposal and incineration, are environmentally detrimental, promoting significant methane emissions and spending valuable resource potential.
Yet, biotechnological advancements, like fermentation, present potential solutions: transforming waste into probiotic-enriched products, driving both sustainability and nutritional science forward.
Although steps have been made, the broader application of fermentation technology in converting food waste into bioactive, health-promoting compounds remains insufficiently leveraged, highlighting a tangible intersection between sustainability and improved health outcomes.

This Research Topic aims to scrutinize and validate fermentation technologies as dual-purpose tools that reduce food waste while enhancing the production of probiotics.
The research will explore various fermentation strategies, assessing their impact on the efficacy and quality of probiotic generation from food waste.
By exploring different fermentation techniques and their effects, the goal is to identify optimal conditions that not only effectively address waste reduction but also engender significant health benefits through sustainable approaches.

The overall scope of this Research Topic is to promote sustainable management of food waste via innovative fermentation practices. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• The advancement of fermentation technologies specifically tailored for food waste;
• Environmental assessments of the impact of fermenting food waste;
• Detailed health and nutritional evaluation of probiotics derived from fermented food waste;

• Exploration of microbial ecosystems within the fermentation process;
• Strategies for integrating fermentation into existing food systems to boost overall sustainability.

By focusing on these themes, we aim to elucidate the role of fermentation in fostering a circular economy, centralizing its capacity to mitigate waste, while concurrently enhancing health-supportive food solutions.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Fermentation, Food Waste Reduction, Probiotics, Sustainable Practices, food waste, probiotic innovation, food waste solutions, sustainable waste solutions, food environmental impact

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.