This special issue of Food Technology and Biotechnology is based on the seventh biennial conference of the International Bioprocessing Association – International Forum on Industrial Bioprocessing (IBA-IFIBiop), which was held at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, PR China during May 21-24, 2017. The scientific program of the conference focused on industrial bioprocesses, including biofuel and chemical production by biocatalysis or bioengineering, bioprocess control and optimization, bioreactor design and engineering, environmental biotechnology, system biology, metabolic engineering, etc. The conference was attended by 306 registered delegates from 24 countries. There were totally 134 oral presentations, including nine plenary talks, 55 invited talks and 70 short oral presentations, which were presented in five parallel sessions daily. There were 167 posters presented during the conference in two sessions on 22 and 23 May 2017. The scientific program was classified in five parallel sessions each day, which were on Bioenergy and Biofuels, Environmental Biotechnology, Food Engineering, Industrial Biotechnology, and Upstream and Downstream Bioprocesses.
The IBA-IFIBiop networking forum was result of the round table organised during the meeting International Congress in Bioprocesses in Food Industries which was held in Clermont-Ferrand, France in 2004. It aimed to organise an efficient and structured networking in the field of biochemical and food engineering and covered the following topics: (i) food and raw materials characterization and properties: equilibrium properties, water activity, pH, antioxidant, transport, rheological, chemical, sensory and nutritional properties, etc, (ii) biocatalysis and food biotechnology: microbiology of food, GMO foods, predictive microbiology (risk assessment), microorganism detection, enzyme and biocatalysis improvement, etc, (iii) bioprocess engineering for food and feed product development: rational process development, reactor design, downstream processing, waste and by-products treatment (environmental care), food preservation (oxidative stability, antimicrobials), food packaging, life cycle assessment, sensors, etc, and (iv) bioprocess engineering for bioindustries: environmental engineering, biofuels, bioremediation, white and green biotechnologies, etc. It allows partners to keep in touch to look for the networking for scientific projects, and the exchange of students and faculties. This platform is opened to everyone wishing to contribute and participate on the above topics.
This special issue of the journal includes fourteen papers selected based on rigorous peer-review process and includes two reviews on Genetically Engineered Strains: Application and Advances for 1,3-Propanediol Production from Glycerol and Applications of Microbial Enzymes in Food Industry, seven original scientific papers, four preliminary communications and one scientific note dealing with food technology, food fermentation, food enzymes, food processing and food waste treatment and management.
We, the Guest Editors of this special issue are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Professor Vladimir Mrša for providing the valuable journal space to accommodate the selected papers, to Zrinka Pongrac Habdija and Iva Grabarić Andonovski and production team of FTB for their great supports to finalize this special issue. Thanks are also due to our reviewers for their insightful comments to make perfection of the quality of those papers included in this issue. We would also thank all the authors of this special issue for their cooperation in bringing out this special issue.
