Wild Edible Plants : Improving Food's Nutritional Value and Human Health Through Biotechnology

Wild plants have been used by humans as an important source of nutrition since ancient times. They are rich in health-promoting compounds such as phenols, flavonoids, antioxidants, vitamins, trace elements, and dietary fibers. When incorporated into food products, these materials enhance the nutritional value, functionality, and sensory qualities of traditional foods. This book explores the biotechnological approaches to developing meat, bakery, and confectionery products, as well as beverages, enriched with wild edible plants. It highlights recent advancements in the use of wild plants as natural emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickeners in water-in-oil emulsion-based food systems. Additionally, it discusses the potential applications of edible algae and wild mushrooms in both food and medicine.

This book presents recent developments in the field of food biotechnology and serves as a visual educational tool, offering comprehensive knowledge about wild edible plants, algae, and mushrooms, and their applications in food production. It is intended for students, educators, scientists, and engineers in the food industry and biotechnology sectors. Additionally, this publication can serve as a valuable resource for developers of innovative food technologies.

Sergey Gubsky (1963-2024) was Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Nutrition, State Biotechnological University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. He received his M.S. in Chemistry in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1989 from V.N. Karazin, Kharkiv National University, Ukraine. Later he received a master's degree in applied economics in 2014 from the University of V.N. Karazin, Kharkiv National University, Ukraine. His area of research interests covered issues of analytical chemistry related to the use and validation of physicochemical methods for determining the amount of chemical compounds in foodstuff and total antioxidant capacity of food, as well as topics on the chemistry of food emulsion-like dispersion. He was a member of the editorial boards and a reviewer of scientific journals. Dr. Gubsky had published 200 scientific and educational manuscripts, including 2 monographs, 5 book chapters, 10 textbooks, 65 peer-reviewed research papers.

Olena Stabnikova achieved the degree of Engineer-Biotechnologist at the National University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine in 1972; later, she received a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences in National University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine in 1978. She has 42 years of teaching and research experience in Biotechnology and Microbiology at the universities of Ukraine and Singapore, and now she is working as senior research scientist in Advanced laboratory, National University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine. Her research experience includes the supervision and participation in international and national projects on the increasing nutritional and health properties of food products, as well as utilization and management of organic wastes with the production of different value-added products. She received award of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine named after DK Zabolotny for the series of works "Kinetics and stoichiometry of growth of populations of microorganisms" in 1993. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainian Food Journal, and is a member of the Section "Scientific Problems of Food Technologies and Industrial Biotechnology", of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Olena Stabnikova has published 155 research papers, 8 book chapters and 2 books. She has h-index of 23 (Scopus).

Viktor Stabnikov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, is a Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, National University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine. Viktor Stabnikov received Bachelor degree in Biotechnology, and then M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from the Ukrainian State University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine. Later he received Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Doctor of Technical Sciences in Biotechnology from the National University of Food Technologies, Kyiv, Ukraine. He also worked as Researcher-Intern at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Chief of the Department of Environmental Protection at Maxwell Scientific and Production Center of Oncology and Cardiology, Ukraine; Associate Professor at the Department of Biotechnology in the Faculty of Ecological Safety and Institute of Municipal Activity at the National Aviation University, Ukraine; Visiting Research Fellow, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, National University of Food Technologies, Ukraine. Dr. Stabnikov has published 75 peer-reviewed research papers, 15 book chapters, 1 book and many other reviews and abstracts. He has h-index 25 (Scopus). He is Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainian Journal of Food Science and a member of the Section "Scientific Problems of Food Technologies and Industrial Biotechnology" of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Octavio Paredes-López is a biochemical engineer and food scientist who obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in Biochemical Engineering and Food Science, respectively, from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, and later earned a Master's degree in Biochemical Engineering from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague. He earned a Ph.D. (1980) in Plants Science at the University of Manitoba, Canada, which awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science in 2005. He is a past president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, a founding member of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, and an ex-member of the Governing Board of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He received the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in 1991, the highest scientific recognition in Mexico, and the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World Award (previously Third World Academy of Sciences) in 1998, Trieste, Italy. Paredes-López has conducted research and postdoctoral stays in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Brazil. Ex-Director and responsible for the foundation of the Center for Mexican Studies of the University of Mexico (UNAM) at la Sorbonne University, Paris, France. He has served as general editor of the journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, and editorial board member of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Frontiers in Food Science and Technology and 10 others international journals. He has authored over 300 publications in indexed journals, book chapters, and books and over 150 articles in newspapers in Mexico, USA and France. His h-index is 68.