Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety最新文献

Lamb's unique flavor comes from the accumulation of various flavor precursors. These precursors are formed through interactions between the gastrointestinal microbiota and lipid metabolism. They include both volatile and non-volatile compounds, such as fatty acids, amino acids, and other metabolites. These compounds are produced through complex microbial and metabolic processes. This review, based on research up to August 2025, analyzes the characteristics and sources of lamb flavor. It highlights how the gastrointestinal microbiota and lipid metabolism play a key role in the formation of flavor precursors. Important processes, like microbial hydrogenation, microbial fatty acid synthesis, and microbial modulation of precursor matrices, are crucial in shaping lamb's flavor profile. Understanding these microbial and metabolic pathways provides valuable insights. These insights can help improve lamb flavor by controlling microbial populations and metabolic processes. This knowledge is also essential for refining lamb production practices and processing technologies. Improving our understanding of how flavor develops offers new ways to enhance lamb product quality. Finally, the review points out key areas for future research to further advance our knowledge of lamb flavor enhancement.

With the growing consumer demand for high-quality dairy products, minimally processed in the industry, it is increasingly focusing on strategies to monitor and mitigate the impacts of microorganisms. Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria were recognized as a significant group of microorganisms prevalent in milk and dairy products, noted for their capacity to produce spoilage enzymes such as proteases and lipases, which adversely affected the quality of these products. Consequently, the dairy industry paid close attention to the management and control of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria. This review provided an extensive analysis of psychrophilic and psychrotrophic microorganisms, emphasizing their species diversity, cold-adaptive mechanisms, and the proteases and lipases they produce in the degradation of milk proteins and lipids. It also critically examined a diverse range of state-of-the-art nucleic acid–based and protein-based detection methodologies, as well as the integration of automation and intelligent inspection systems. This information was contributed to optimize microbial management, enhance the quality of minimally processed dairy products, and ensure food safety throughout the entire dairy production chain. Moreover, the findings aimed to highlight the advancement and application of innovative technologies, promoting sustainable practices within the industry. Ultimately, this comprehensive understanding enabled dairy producers to protect product quality, improve food safety, and address the growing consumer demand for high-quality dairy products. By promoting a proactive strategy for microbiological management, this review aimed to assist the dairy industry in addressing the intricate challenges of contemporary production.

The continuously growing demand for dietary protein raises the urgency of expanding supply chains beyond conventional animal-based sources. Microalgae are well-known as biofactories due to their high photosynthetic efficiency, rapid growth, minimal resource requirements, and ability to thrive in diverse environments. To maximize protein production, mixotrophic cultivation is often preferred, as it enables significantly higher biomass yields. Key factors, including light quality (intensity and wavelength), carbon sources (inorganic CO₂ and organic substrates), and nitrogen availability, play significant roles in directing metabolic fluxes toward protein biosynthesis, the modulation of which refers to biochemical engineering. In the field of genetic engineering, precise gene editing tools, especially CRISPR/Cas9, have demonstrated considerable promise, although the application in enhancing microalgal protein production remains challenging and limited. By contrast, random mutagenesis has been proven effective in improving multiple strains for increased protein accumulation. Beyond upstream strategies, downstream engineering, including drying, extrusion forming, and fermentation, is emphasized for improving the nutritional and functional properties of microalgal proteins for food and feed applications in the form of whole cells. Furthermore, extracted microalgal proteins broaden the range of potential applications, whose quality is significantly affected by the methods used for cell disruption/extraction, purification, and hydrolysis. Novel biorefinery strategies are also discussed to enhance economic viability by integrating value-added biomass utilization within a protein-first recovery scheme. Altogether, by combining advances in cultivation technologies, strain modification, processing, and supportive policy frameworks, this review supports the development of sustainable protein production platforms based on microalgae.

Controlled-release packaging (CRP) represents a frontier in food preservation, enabling the targeted and sustained delivery of active agents to extend shelf life, enhance food safety, and reduce waste. Diverging from previous efforts, this review provides a critical examination of fundamental release mechanisms (diffusion, swelling, and biodegradation), emphasizing release kinetics and their links to functional outcomes in real foods, an aspect often overlooked. Recent breakthroughs in stimuli-responsive packaging materials, such as temperature, pH, humidity, enzyme, and externally triggered (light, electric, and magnetic) systems, are systematically summarized. Special attention is given to design strategies, smart sensing integration, and mathematical modeling of release behavior. Furthermore, this review uniquely bridges the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation by addressing translational challenges, including regulatory hurdles, environmental sustainability, and consumer acceptance. By combining a mechanism-driven perspective with a sustainability framework, this work offers original insights and outlines future research directions to accelerate the development of intelligent, eco-friendly, and industry-ready CRP technologies.

Microwave-assisted drying has gained increasing attention in the food industry due to its ability to improve drying efficiency, preserve nutritional and functional properties, and enhance the quality of final products compared to conventional thermal methods. Its capability for rapid, volumetric heating and reduced processing times positions microwave drying as a promising technology for modern food production. This review examines the fundamentals of electromagnetic and microwave energy, the design and operation of microwave ovens, and recent developments in microwave-based food drying techniques. Various standalone and hybrid methods, including microwave–hot air, microwave-infrared, microwave-vacuum, and solar-assisted microwave drying, are discussed. Additionally, chemical transformations during microwave drying, empirical and mechanistic modeling approaches, safety considerations, and nonthermal effects are addressed. Advances in solid-state microwave systems and the application of artificial intelligence for process optimization, monitoring, and automation are also reviewed. In conclusion, microwave drying technologies offer significant benefits in terms of energy efficiency, product quality retention, and process sustainability. However, challenges such as uneven heating and potential quality degradation remain. Future research should focus on intelligent control strategies, improved understanding of food properties, and scalable solutions to further enhance the reliability and industrial application of microwave-assisted drying.

Food drying, as a food processing industry with a high carbon footprint, needs to adapt in the face of carbon reduction and future food trends. Through the application of classical theories on food moisture migration and drying kinetics, coupled with life cycle analysis of food drying processes, the low-carbon feasibility of drying engineering can be demonstrated; a survey of drying technologies over the last 20 years has shown a new wave of advances in food drying equipment for clean energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass, with tools such as energy efficiency and monitoring enriching the drying process. The food of the future is a development of traditional and modern food products, for which new R&D trends, resource utilization, environmental load reduction, and customized production of drying technologies can provide insights. In addition, around the issue of economic efficiency of food processing, relevant recommendations for integrating cost reduction algorithms for drying processing and equipment construction are presented. This review provides useful information on carbon reduction in drying as well as trends in drying and assists in the selection of drying equipment.

Food drying, as a food processing industry with a high carbon footprint, needs to adapt in the face of carbon reduction and future food trends. Through the application of classical theories on food moisture migration and drying kinetics, coupled with life cycle analysis of food drying processes, the low-carbon feasibility of drying engineering can be demonstrated; a survey of drying technologies over the last 20 years has shown a new wave of advances in food drying equipment for clean energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass, with tools such as energy efficiency and monitoring enriching the drying process. The food of the future is a development of traditional and modern food products, for which new R&D trends, resource utilization, environmental load reduction, and customized production of drying technologies can provide insights. In addition, around the issue of economic efficiency of food processing, relevant recommendations for integrating cost reduction algorithms for drying processing and equipment construction are presented. This review provides useful information on carbon reduction in drying as well as trends in drying and assists in the selection of drying equipment.