Food security and sustainability from a microbiology perspective

The journals Animal Microbiome, Annals of Microbiology, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Archives of Microbiology,Current Microbiology, Environmental Microbiome, Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, International Microbiology, Microbial Ecology, Microbiome, One Health Outlook, Parasites and Vectors, Parasitology Research, and Virology Journal are calling for submissions to our collection on "Food security and sustainability from a microbiology perspective".

In light of climate change, geopolitical conflicts, economic downturns and human population growth, many questions arise about our future. A major problem society faces is securing food supplies to sustain all people on Earth, which is the focus of the UN’s second Sustainable Development Goal: “Zero Hunger”.

This challenge is exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which may double the number of people suffering from acute hunger. If recent trends continue, the number of people affected by hunger will surpass 840 million by 2030. Profound changes of agriculture and the global food system are needed to nourish people who are hungry today and the additional 2 billion people who will be living on Earth by 2050.

Food security is a complex problem: to maintain agricultural productivity on degrading lands and in the face of water scarcity, or to achieve increased agricultural productivity and sustainable food production, many questions need to be answered and solutions need to be tested and implemented. Various aspects of maintaining or enhancing food production, sustainability and security can be tackled from a microbiology perspective.

In this collection, we focus on topics related to:

1. Foodborne parasites and production animals - a One-Health perspective

2. Plant foodborne parasites

3. Production of food with use of microbes

4. Maintaining or enhancing crop yields and quality (including mycorrhizas and nitrogen fixing organisms)

5. Antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in food production

6. The role of the microbiome in livestock

7. Other microbiology/biotechnology solutions to support food security and/or sustainability

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read the submission guidelines of the journal you are submitting to.

Please visit the BMC Collection webpage BMC page for full scope, list of participating journals, submission guidelines, and link to submit.

During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a collection. Please select "Food security and sustainability from a microbiology perspective" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the standard peer-review process of the journal they are considered in and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.