Saves can be transferred, you just have to drag them into the same place in the folder. However, some things wont come into effect until a new game is started. These things are usually changes to the recipe database. So if I change any recipes or add new ones, the game wont update them into your save files until you start a new game. I am trying to see if there is a way to get around this issue but my hopes are not very high at the moment.
I usually only add a few new recipes per update so it might not be worth restarting the game at every update, but maybe every 4-6 updates.