Advances in the use of beneficial microorganisms to improve nutritional and functional properties of fermented foods

The World Health Organization has highlighted the need to improve the nutritional and functional characteristics of foods and beverages in order to enhance quality of life and prevent chronic diseases. Many foods often present critical issues such as high glycemic response, low biological protein value, high salt and fat concentrations, a lack of functional compounds such as fibers and polyphenols, and the presence of ingredients associated with hypersensitivity reactions. The use of beneficial microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is an excellent strategy to improve the nutritional and functional properties of foods via the synthesis of bioactive compounds or through the degradation of antinutritional factors. In recent years, many microorganisms with metabolic characteristics useful for improving traditional and novel fermented foods have been identified, and the relationships between their application and fermented food quality, safety, and health promoting features have been elucidated. In this Special Issue, an overview is provided of the latest scientific evidence on improving the nutritional and functional properties of food resulting from the use of beneficial microorganisms. Recent increases in scientific efforts have resulted in the developed of both new and traditional fermented products that combine the beneficial characteristics of microbial fermentation with the nutritional properties of animal-and plant-derived matrices.