Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety最新文献

The growing demand for functional foods has increased interest in advanced processing technologies that improve the stability, bioavailability, and controlled delivery of bioactive compounds (BCs). High-pressure homogenization (HPH) has emerged as a scalable and environmentally sustainable method for developing structured delivery systems within food matrices. In HPH, fluid dispersions are driven through a narrow homogenization valve at extremely high pressure, creating intense shear stress, turbulence, cavitation, and droplet-collision forces. These physico-mechanical processes significantly reduce the droplet size, redesign interfacial properties, and facilitate the formation of kinetically stable emulsions and nanodelivery systems for efficient encapsulation and protection of BCs. This review critically examines recent progress in HPH-assisted encapsulation technologies for food applications. It addresses the mechanisms underlying the formation and functional performance of nanoemulsions (NEs), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNPs), and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) generated via HPH. The discussion focuses on structure–function relationships, physicochemical stability, encapsulation efficiency, and the integration of HPH with both thermal and nonthermal processing methods. HPH modifies biopolymer structures, improves interfacial properties, and facilitates the creation of stable nanoscale carriers with enhanced oxidative stability, controlled release profiles, and thermal protection for sensitive compounds. The combination of HPH with complementary processing techniques further influences structural transitions and functional outcomes. Although laboratory-scale results are promising, challenges persist regarding scalability, long-term stability, and industrial adoption. In summary, HPH-based encapsulation offers a robust platform for developing next-generation functional foods, fostering innovation in product design and value-added applications.

Plastic waste from food packaging threatens ecosystems as it accumulates and breaks down into microplastics. This “white pollution” crisis demands sustainable alternatives. Fucoidan, derived from brown algae, offers a promising solution. This marine-sourced biopolymer forms flexible, transparent films with functional properties comparable to those of conventional plastics, while its sulfate groups provide key antioxidant and antibacterial benefits. This review is based on a total of 55 highly relevant studies that focus on the preparation and performance evaluation of fucoidan-based films, with emphasis on the key functional roles of fucoidan in edible packaging materials. It analyzes and summarizes the preparation techniques of edible materials containing fucoidan, the improvements in material properties (including mechanical properties, barrier properties, and antioxidant properties) brought about by fucoidan, and the application cases of these materials. Fucoidan-based films are primarily fabricated through solution casting, ionic crosslinking, electrospinning, and layer-by-layer assembly. The incorporation of fucoidan markedly enhances the overall performance of composite films. It increases film thickness, UV-barrier capacity, mechanical strength, and thermal stability in most systems through electrostatic and hydrogen-bond interactions, and strengthens water-vapor barrier properties while reducing moisture content, water solubility, and surface hydrophilicity in crosslinked matrices. Most importantly, fucoidan confers potent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiviral activities via its sulfate groups, enabling efficient radical scavenging and pH-responsive release. In practical applications, these multifunctional films have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in preserving highly perishable foods, including many fruits and meats. Fucoidan-based packaging is poised to emerge as a safe, intelligent, and truly sustainable alternative to conventional plastics.

Flour products are staple foods worldwide, and the industry demands green and efficient processing technologies to address quality defects in traditional production. As a nonthermal physical processing technology, ultrasound has emerged as a promising solution for flour product quality regulation via cavitation, mechanical, and mild thermal effects. This paper systematically elucidates the multi-scale regulatory mechanism of ultrasound on flour product quality, revealing its cascade regulation pathway from molecular structure to macroscopic quality: At the molecular level, ultrasound realizes dynamic water redistribution, reconstructs gluten protein conformation, and modifies starch crystalline structure; at the micro level, it strengthens protein–starch interfacial interactions and optimizes dough colloidal system structure; macroscopically, it improves dough rheological and textural properties, and achieves bidirectional precision regulation of fermentation kinetics based on power density gradients. The paper also elaborates on the synergistic mechanisms and quality improvement effects of ultrasonic composite technologies combined with high pressure, microwave, enzymatic treatment, and freezing, clarifying that ultrasound acts as a structural sensitizer and process enhancer in composite systems. Current research faces bottlenecks such as insufficient real-time molecular characterization, prominent industrial scaling effects, and preliminary research on healthy flour products. This review provides theoretical support and technical reference for the green, precise, and intelligent processing of flour products, and lays a foundation for the high-quality development of the flour product industry.

Front-of-package labeling (FOPL) is increasingly used to support healthier food choices, but its role in early childhood, where decisions are largely caregiver-mediated, remains uncertain. This systematic review assessed the methodological quality and certainty of evidence on FOPL for foods and beverages marketed to children and synthesized behavioral, nutritional, and cognitive–affective outcomes among children and caregivers. Following PRISMA 2020, five bibliographic databases and BASE were searched through July 2025. Risk of bias was assessed using JBI tools, and certainty was evaluated using GRADE and GRADE-CERQual. Thirty-nine studies were included: 18 RCTs, five quasi-experimental studies, six cross-sectional studies, and 10 qualitative studies. Evidence most consistently supported effects on perceived healthfulness, purchase intention, and, in some comparisons, product selection and purchase. Warning labels showed the clearest directional pattern, particularly for discouraging selection or intended purchase of less healthy products, but evidence varied by outcome and comparator. Nutritional outcomes were more heterogeneous and generally of low or very low certainty. Educational components tended to favor FOPL conditions in direction-of-effect summaries, but the evidence was of very low certainty and insufficient to establish a reliable incremental benefit. Qualitative findings indicated that FOPL can function as a simple heuristic for caregivers, although use is shaped by comprehension, trust, context, and everyday constraints. Overall, FOPL may support early stages of caregiver-mediated decision-making, but sustained nutritional impact remains uncertain. The absence of a universally superior format argues against one-size-fits-all labeling; policies should prioritize interpretive clarity and contextual fit and support longitudinal, real-world evaluations.

Probiotics have considerable potential in regulating gut microbiota, improving metabolic health, and enhancing host immunity. However, during food processing, storage, and gastrointestinal digestion, they are susceptible to stresses including heat, acidity, oxygen exposure, moisture changes, and digestive fluids, leading to reduced viable cell counts and impaired functionality. Developing delivery systems that integrate protective capacity, processing adaptability, and food compatibility is, therefore, an important direction for advancing probiotic applications in foods. Food proteins possess favorable nutritional properties, biocompatibility, and structural design flexibility. They can undergo self-assembly driven by non-covalent interactions and further co-assemble with second components such as polysaccharides and polyphenols, thereby forming diverse delivery materials. Starting from protein assembly behavior, this review summarizes representative formation pathways of protein-based probiotic delivery materials and clarifies how different pathways lead to delivery structures, such as nanoparticles, nanogels, hydrogels, nanofibrils, microcapsule shells, nanocoatings, and nanofibers. On this basis, the three major functional roles of protein materials in probiotic delivery systems are summarized, namely, encapsulation, scaffold construction, and interfacial regulation. Their adaptability to different food matrices in food applications and the safety issues requiring attention are further discussed. This review aims to clarify the structural evolution of protein-based probiotic delivery systems from the origin of material formation, providing a reference for their structure-guided design, processing-pathway optimization, and expanded food applications.

High-pressure homogenization (HPH), including ultra-high-pressure homogenization (UHPH) as its higher pressure subset, has evolved from conventional size-reduction operations into versatile food-processing platforms for emulsification, preservation, biopolymer restructuring, and product-level functional design. In contrast to recent descriptive reviews that mainly summarize application categories, this review reframes HPH as a valve-scale energy-dissipation and thermo-fluidic transport process. Evidence published mainly from 2022 to 2026 indicates that HPH performance is governed less by nominal pressure alone than by the coupled effects of valve or chamber geometry, specific energy input, residence-time distribution, shear and extensional deformation, turbulence, cavitation, adiabatic heating, matrix composition, interfacial stabilization, and downstream cooling. Across emulsification, microbial and enzyme control, biopolymer nanodispersion, and texture modification, HPH is most effective when hydrodynamic stresses are matched with formulation capacity, microbial susceptibility, and matrix-specific rheology. The clearest translational value is observed in liquid and pumpable foods, where finer microstructures can improve physical stability, bioaccessibility, microbial control, gel or foam behavior, and sensory smoothness. However, these benefits often plateau or decline when viscosity limits stress transfer, interfacial coverage becomes insufficient, particulate loading disrupts valve flow, proteins reaggregate after mechanical unfolding, or cumulative heating narrows quality margins. Future progress will depend on predictive, application-specific process design supported by CFD-informed valve selection, energy-normalized reporting, thermal lethality assessment, equipment-wear management, regulatory validation, and pilot-scale economic comparison with high-shear mixing and thermal processing.

The escalating global population and the environmentally inefficient nature of livestock-based protein production are intensifying demand for sustainable and scalable protein alternatives. Microbial biosynthesis, employing engineered cell factories, represents a pivotal strategy for producing functional proteins with a reduced ecological footprint. This review comprehensively examines the biosynthesis of alternative proteins (APs) via microbial precision fermentation, encompassing diverse categories including coloring proteins, flavoring and taste proteins, structuring and texturizing proteins, nutritional and functional proteins, food processing and enabling proteins, and special functional proteins. Enabling technologies, from fermentation feedstock and microbial host selection to genome/metabolic engineering, bioprocess optimization via response surface methodology/artificial neural networks, and downstream purification, are critically analyzed. Emerging strategies demonstrate substantial progress in enhancing microbial titers, achieving functional mimicry, and advancing regulatory readiness. However, persistent challenges include precise flavor replication, nutritional completeness, and food safety concerns such as allergenicity and process contaminants. Potential solutions, including advanced metabolic engineering, refined protein extraction, biocontainment strategies, and transparent regulatory frameworks, are discussed. By integrating technological innovation with targeted application mapping and regulatory foresight, this review outlines a roadmap toward scalable, safe, and functionally robust microbial AP platforms, thereby contributing to the transition toward a sustainable food system.

In plant-based foods, polysaccharides rarely exist in isolation. During plant growth, processing, and storage, they can bind to or associate with proteins, polyphenols, lipids, metal ions, and small molecules via covalent or non-covalent interactions, forming plant-derived polysaccharide conjugates (PPCs). These conjugates play important roles in determining food structure, sensory attributes, and nutritional functionality. Although many studies have focused on purified polysaccharides or model biopolymer systems, naturally occurring PPCs in plant-based foods and their multifunctional roles remain insufficiently explored. This review discusses PPCs formed within plant tissues or generated during food processing, summarizing their major types, structural features, and formation pathways, and highlighting how conjugation modulates conformation, charge distribution, hydration, and self-assembly. Particular attention is given to their roles in regulating color stability, aroma generation and retention, taste perception (including bitterness masking and astringency reduction), and texture formation in foods such as wines, yogurts, low-fat creams, plant-based meat analogs, and active packaging films. In addition, their contributions to oxidative stability, gut microbiota modulation, glycemic response, and antitumor potential are discussed from a food science perspective. Finally, current analytical challenges, regulatory considerations, and technological limitations that hinder scale-up and industrial application are critically evaluated. By linking PPC structure with effects on taste, nutrition, and processing behavior, this review highlights their potential for developing foods that are healthier, more stable, and more palatable.

Aged teas (dark, white, and heavily baked Oolong) undergo significant transformations during storage, yet the industry remains constrained by a lack of scientific standardization. This review dissects how storage conditions influence flavor, health benefits, and constituent changes. It further evaluates vintage prediction and accelerated aging technologies, proposing the integration of Industry 5.0 to modernize the sector. Mechanistically, aging is driven by enzymatic oxidation, nonenzymatic reactions, and microbial metabolism. The degradation of flavanols drives the reduction of bitterness and astringency, while the formation of polymeric catechins and N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidinone-substituted flavanols (EPSFs) serves as the key marker of aging. Additionally, the synergistic balance between methoxybenzenes and accumulating volatiles, such as woody/herbal compounds among others, drives the formation of the aged aroma. Regarding environmental factors, temperature, humidity, and microbial participation drive material transformation. While high-temperature/humidity environments can accelerate transformation, they may compromise quality. In terms of health benefits, components formed after aging (e.g., EPSFs and theabrownins) demonstrate advantages in regulating gut microbiota homeostasis and improving glucolipid metabolism. Notably, aging time is not linearly positively correlated with flavor and health benefits, but rather possesses an optimal window. Although vintage prediction models have been developed, their generalization ability across batches of teas remains to be improved. In terms of accelerated aging, ultraviolet radiation and high-voltage pulsed electric fields can induce sensory profiles closer to naturally aged tea in a shorter time than microbial inoculation and wet-heat treatments. Concurrently, the introduction of Industry 5.0 paradigms may provide potential for addressing vintage fraud, achieving precise quality control, and promoting green development in the industry.