Nowadays, consumers are increasingly demanding traditional, local and organic foods, as food scandals and the conflicts on the production of genetically modified foods undermine public confidence and make them skeptic with regard to modern industrial food producing.

Nevertheless, they do not only ask for tastier, safer, more convenient and healthier traditional foods that fit better with the current way of living in modern societies, but also demand standardized and low price products.

The increased demands of our times put at risk many traditional foods, as well as traditional processing techniques still available today. To economically survive and being sustainable in these modern consumer markets, SMEs producing traditional foods must extend their skills and production techniques as well as finding innovative ways to promote the characteristics and clear advantages of their products related to nutrition and health.

This is happening either by introducing minor modifications to their century-old recipes or by introducing innovations that maintain and even expand their market in a highly competitive and globalized environment.

However, many of the technologies used in the production of traditional foods still rely on traditional production practices with low competitiveness and low efficiency. Thus, there is a clear lack of innovation in this sector, although a number of opportunities have not yet been adequately addressed.

One of the main disadvantages that may result from implementation of innovations in traditional foods is the fact that the innovation itself could make them lose their “traditional” character, which in turn could cause them to lose their competitive advantage and the added value that provide to consumers.

The latter show a certain resistance to adopt innovations, especially when they are associated with sophisticated technologies. This resistance is even more pronounced in the case of traditional foods. Subsequently, there is a need for a new guide providing solutions, ideas and innovations in this sector.

Over the last years, Food Waste Recovery Group has organized a series of activities (webinars, workshops, courses etc) and published books dealing with issues of sustainable food systems, innovations in the food industry, food waste recovery and non-thermal processing, as well as functional food ingredients like polyphenols.

Innovations in Traditional Foods  addresses the most relevant topics of traditional foods while placing emphasis on the introduction of innovations and consumer preferences.

Certain food categories, such as fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes, vegetables, mushrooms, roots and tubers, table olives and olive oil, wine, fermented foods and beverages, fish, meat, milk and dairy products are addressed.

Intended for food scientists, technologists, engineers and chemists working in food science, product developers, SMEs, researchers, academics and professionals, this book provides a reference supporting technological advances, product development improvements and potential positioning in the traditional food market.

Key Features

• Provides a reference supporting technological advances, product development improvements, and potential positioning in the traditional food market
• Contains coverage of various food categories, including fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes, vegetables, mushrooms, roots and tubers, table olives and olive oil, wine, fermented foods and beverages, fish, meat, and milk and dairy products

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Charis M. Galanakis is an interdisciplinary scientist with a fast-expanding work that balances between food and environment, industry, and academia. He has established the “Food Waste Recovery” term and discipline with an ultimate goal to inspire related professionals to extract high added-value compounds from wasted by-products in all stages of food production (from agriculture to the consumer) and re-utilize them in the food chain. He is the coordinator of Food Waste Recovery Group of ISEKI Food Association (Vienna, Austria) and R&I director of Galanakis Laboratories (Chania, Greece). He serves as an expert evaluator/monitor of international and regional funded programs and proposals (Horizon 2020 etc). He is an editorial board member of Food and Bioproducts Processing and Food Research International, and he has edited 12 books with Elsevier. See his full portfolio of books here. Follow Dr. Galanakis via Twitter – @CharisGalanakis, LinkedIn or ResearchGate.
Join the Food Waste Recovery Group on LinkedIn or the Food Waste Recovery Page on Facebook. ORCID: 0000-0001-5194-0818 email: charismgalanakis@gmail.com