The Role of Alternative and Innovative Food Ingredients and Products in Consumer Wellness

Charis M. Galanakis is a multidisciplinary scientist in agricultural sciences as well as food and environmental science, technology, and sustainability, with experience in both industry and academia. He is the research and innovation director of Galanakis Laboratories in Chania, Greece, an adjunct professor of King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the director of Food Waste Recovery Group (SIG5) of ISEKI Food Association in Vienna, Austria. He pioneered the new discipline of food waste recovery and has established the most prominent innovation network in the field. He also serves as a senior consultant for the food industry and expert evaluator for international and regional funded programs and proposals. He is an editorial board member of Food and Bioproducts Processing, Food Research International, and Foods, has edited over 45 books, and has published hundreds of research articles, reviews, monographs, chapters, and conference proceedings.

"Humans have been adding supplements to foods for a long time. When we added quinine (first extracted from cinchona bark) to our gin and tonic, it was not for its calorific value, but rather for its antimalarial properties. Similarly, today, we aim to reduce illness and better our diet through eating bioactive compounds in the variety of ways described in this book. It is described as a reference, beneficial to food scientists, technologists, nutrition researchers and food chemistry students, but I certainly believe it accessible to all who are interested in the latest food technologies available, as well as those which might be available in the future. The book deals largely with natural (rather than synthetic) sources of bioactive ingredients and the functional foods where they may be found. Individual chapters focus on fruit, cereal, microalgae, insect, fish-based and bacterial sources of compounds. The book also describes the methods in which nutrients are commonly extracted, where they may be medically useful, and to which foods the bioactive ingredients may be added. Of interest are comments on how the food technology industry needs legislative support in order to successfully transform food waste into useable protein/fibre/vitamins or to define more closely exactly which foods can be branded ‘superfoods’. The success of microalgae and insect food industries also requires a societal shift for many, but in any event could play a larger role in global animal feed. The world is becoming smaller with regard to exotic food information. Research into the omega-3 eating people of Greenland suggests that cardiovascular disease doesn’t have to be a consequence of a high-fat diet and that historical Brazilian consumers of the açaí berry did so to improve digestion. This book, with chapter contributions from all corners of the globe, highlights the modern global search for better food ingredients." --The Biochemist

• 1. Wellness Ingredients and Functional Foods2. Fruit-based Functional Foods3. The Concept of Superfoods in Diet4. Microalgae as Healthy Ingredients for Functional Foods5. Edible Insects and Related Products6. Low Glycemic Index Ingredients and Modified Starches In Food Products7. Products Based on Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids & Health Effects8. Gluten-free Products9. Food Industry Processing By-products in Foods10. Pro- and Prebiotic Foods that Modulate Human Health11. Production and Recovery of Bioaromas Synthesized by Microorganisms