Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety最新文献

The interactions among starch, lipids, and proteins during food processing have a significant impact on the digestibility and nutritional value of starch-based diets. Optimizing these interactions presents a promising approach to enhancing nutritional functionality and developing functional foods with targeted health benefits. This review examines research from 2014 to 2024 investigating the mechanisms underlying these interactions and provides a framework for designing functional starch-based foods. The review examines the formation of binary and ternary complexes, considering the properties of the biomolecules involved and the processing conditions, and highlights the multi-scale structural evolution within these complexes. The reduced digestibility resulting from complex formation is explained through physical barriers, steric effects, and enzyme inhibition. The review also discusses the impact of complexation on gut microbiota, fermentation rates, and metabolites. Applications in low-glycemic index (GI) foods, bioactive delivery systems, fat replacers, and clean-label ingredients demonstrate their potential in functional food design. The review emphasizes the importance of the multi-scale structure of the complexes in linking complex formation to digestive and fermentation behaviors. The review also outlines future research directions, including investigating multi-component interactions within real food systems, developing processing technologies for controlled nutrient release and functional integration in starch-based foods, and advancing animal or human trials to correlate multi-scale structures with physiological responses. This review lays the groundwork for the development of functional starch-based foods with targeted nutritional benefits, advancing the fields of food science and nutrition toward innovative strategies for enhancing human health.

Fruits and vegetables exist in a dynamic environment and are constantly exposed to biotic threats. Fungi are important phytopathogens that can infect different tissues at any stage of plant development. The development of fungal infections results in decreased productivity, changes in appearance, and reduced overall consumer acceptance. Additionally, some phytopathogenic fungi produce mycotoxins that can harm humans and animals. Chemical methods, such as fungicides and chemical preservatives, have been traditionally used to control fungi in fruits and vegetables with varying degrees of success. However, these methods can pose health, safety, and environmental concerns, resulting in the search for a safer alternative strategy. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are promising and effective candidates for post-harvest disease management, showing inhibitory effects against several phytopathogens. The antagonistic effects of LAB against phytopathogens are diverse and multifaceted, including competition for space and nutrients, parasitism, and the production of inhibitory metabolites such as acids and volatile organic compounds. Parameters indicating the post-harvest quality of fruits and vegetables can also be preserved by applying LAB. However, some practical challenges may limit the broad application of LAB in fruits and vegetables, including host specificity, sensory changes, environmental cultivation conditions, production costs, complex regulatory approval, and the need for adequate characterization of antifungal compounds. Additionally, limited field trials and a lack of standardized protocols hinder commercial application, highlighting the need for further research to optimize LAB use in sustainable crop protection. The information presented in this review highlights new perspectives on exploring LAB and their metabolites for controlling phytopathogenic agents in fruits and vegetables.

With the rapid expansion of the food industry, the extensive use of nondegradable plastic packaging has caused severe environmental pollution and widespread microplastic contamination, posing critical challenges to sustainable development and public health. Consequently, the development of biodegradable food-packaging materials has become a central focus of current research. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a water-soluble polymer exhibiting conditional biodegradability and excellent biocompatibility. Its outstanding film-forming properties, mechanical toughness, thermal stability, and optical transparency have garnered significant attention, positioning it as a promising alternative to conventional plastics. However, systematic research integrating fundamental preparation strategies with functionalization modification methods remains scarce, particularly in comprehensive investigations addressing PVA's inherent hydrophilicity and its impact on high-humidity food systems. This review fills that gap by systematically examining the preparation methods, physicochemical properties, and applications of PVA-based films. It uniquely integrates recent advances in hydrophobic modification, gas-barrier enhancement, and functional additives into a unified framework that links molecular design to practical food-packaging performance. Furthermore, the prospects and challenges of PVA-based packaging are critically discussed. By articulating these insights, this review provides a novel, application-driven perspective that guides targeted modifications and advanced processing technologies to unlock the full potential of PVA for sustainable food packaging.

Soy sauce is a time-honored fermented condiment, the quality of which is primarily influenced by the growth and metabolism of microorganisms during fermentation. Among these, salt-tolerant yeasts play a particularly important role in flavor development, garnering increasing attention recently. This review summarizes the reported genera and succession of salt-tolerant yeasts in soy sauce fermentation, covering a total of 23 genera, mainly from the Ascomycota, with 6 genera present in the koji-making stage and 23 during moromi fermentation. In addition, the factors influencing yeast community succession, including raw materials, environmental conditions, fermentation containers, and technological parameters, were summarized. The contributions of key yeasts, such as Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, Candida versatilis, and Pichia guilliermondii, to flavor formation are discussed, as well as the application and current progress of inoculation strategies based on microbial interactions. Finally, on the basis of the limitations of existing research, four key directions for future studies were proposed: investigating low-abundance yet key strains, elucidating the taste contributions of specific strains, understanding environmental factors driving microbial community succession, exploring microbial interaction mechanisms, and designing synthetic microbial communities.

Barley bran (BB) and barley husk (BH) are major byproducts of conventional barley grain processing, but they currently have limited value-added applications due to structural complexity, low nutritional bioavailability, processing challenges, and low consumer acceptance. This review summarizes their current utilization, chemical composition, recent advances in value addition, and the challenges associated with their use as food ingredients. Both BB and BH contain abundant phenolics and polysaccharides, which may confer potential health benefits. Further advances in extraction technologies for bioactive components could enhance their economic viability. Although BB and BH are often collectively treated as BB in practice, their compositions and properties differ markedly. BB can be directly incorporated into foods (within specified levels) and also serves as a substrate for enzyme production (e.g., xylanase, laccase) and bioactive compounds (e.g., GABA, phenolics). By contrast, BH is less suitable for direct consumption but shows promise in food-related applications such as packaging films, biosensors, and food-grade adsorbents. Overall, this review provides insights and feasible strategies for the high-value utilization of these barley byproducts.

Anti-fog food packaging is defined as packaging that has undergone surface modification (e.g., superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic coatings) or is composed of special materials, the primary function of which is to regulate the wettability of the packaging in order to prevent condensation of water droplets on the inner surface of the package under specific conditions and the formation of fog. Conventional petroleum-based food packaging materials not only cause environmental pollution but also experience fogging issues, which compromise food safety and quality. Although bio-based materials are environmentally friendly, their anti-fogging performance requires further enhancement to suppress microbial growth and maintain packaging transparency without water condensation. This review explores anti-fogging mechanisms (superhydrophobic/superoleophilic strategies), fabrication techniques (chemical grafting, cross-linking, and additive assembly), and applications of bio-based packaging materials, highlighting the integration of multifunctional features (antimicrobial, antioxidant) and surface modifications to control wettability, gas permeability, and humidity stability for food preservation. Superhydrophobic (WCA ≥150°) and superhydrophobic (WCA ≈0°) materials effectively prevent fogging on packaging surfaces through rolling and spreading mechanisms. Additionally, chemical and physical modifications enhance durability and multifunctionality. Anti-fogging packaging reduces moisture condensation; inhibits microbial growth; and extends the shelf life of fruits, vegetables, and perishable foods. Future research should prioritize material durability, cost-effective scaling, and smart responsive design (e.g., pH and temperature-sensitive coatings) to develop sustainable food packaging solutions.

Anti-fog food packaging is defined as packaging that has undergone surface modification (e.g., superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic coatings) or is composed of special materials, the primary function of which is to regulate the wettability of the packaging in order to prevent condensation of water droplets on the inner surface of the package under specific conditions and the formation of fog. Conventional petroleum-based food packaging materials not only cause environmental pollution but also experience fogging issues, which compromise food safety and quality. Although bio-based materials are environmentally friendly, their anti-fogging performance requires further enhancement to suppress microbial growth and maintain packaging transparency without water condensation. This review explores anti-fogging mechanisms (superhydrophobic/superoleophilic strategies), fabrication techniques (chemical grafting, cross-linking, and additive assembly), and applications of bio-based packaging materials, highlighting the integration of multifunctional features (antimicrobial, antioxidant) and surface modifications to control wettability, gas permeability, and humidity stability for food preservation. Superhydrophobic (WCA ≥150°) and superhydrophobic (WCA ≈0°) materials effectively prevent fogging on packaging surfaces through rolling and spreading mechanisms. Additionally, chemical and physical modifications enhance durability and multifunctionality. Anti-fogging packaging reduces moisture condensation; inhibits microbial growth; and extends the shelf life of fruits, vegetables, and perishable foods. Future research should prioritize material durability, cost-effective scaling, and smart responsive design (e.g., pH and temperature-sensitive coatings) to develop sustainable food packaging solutions.