In recent decades, dietary supplementation with probiotics has become an important method to alleviate or even prevent some chronic non-communicable diseases. However, an amount of dead or injured microorganisms, their cell components and metabolites presented in probiotic formulations also have potentially beneficial effects on human health but are often overlooked by researchers and consumers. In fact, these microorganisms-related beneficial substances are the category of postbiotics. Compared with probiotics, postbiotics have unique advantages, such as stability, safety, and wide application, which makes postbiotics have a broader application prospect. Since postbiotic is a new concept proposed by the International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics in 2021, it is still in the initial stage of exploration. Therefore, there are many questions that need to be explored by researchers urgently. For example, efficient preparation methods for postbiotics, identification or characterization of postbiotic components, evaluation of postbiotic activity, and application of postbiotics in the food field. In this Special Issue, we mainly focus on the functional properties and application prospects of postbiotics, and hope to promote the development of postbiotic-related fields through the implementation of this special issue.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: