Food Engineering Reviews

Kattour, Naim; Louka, Nicolas; Yaghi, Joseph; Debs, Espérance

doi: 10.1007/s12393-025-09434-5pmid: N/A

The persistence of pathogenic microorganisms in low-moisture foods (LMFs) poses a public health concern, as they can survive under dry conditions and resist conventional heat treatments. Despite the fact that LMFs do not support microbial growth, outbreaks and recalls have demonstrated their vulnerability to contamination. Conventional decontamination methods, such as fumigation and thermal treatments, have been widely used; however, these techniques may lead to undesirable effects, including toxic residues in the former and nutrient loss and quality degradation in the latter. To address these challenges, a range of novel thermal and non-thermal technologies have been explored for their potential to inactivate pathogens in LMFs. This review provides a critical assessment of studies evaluating decontamination methods applied to LMFs, considering their microbial inactivation mechanisms, effectiveness, and impact on product quality properties. Comparisons between various technologies are drawn, highlighting their advantages and limitations. Additionally, the concept of hurdle technology, which involves the combination of multiple treatments to enhance microbial control while preserving food integrity, is discussed as a promising approach for improving LMF safety.

Zeng, Shiyu; Wang, Bo; He, Yangyang; Lin, Rongru; Yang, Liling; Lv, Weiqiao; Xiao, Hongwei

doi: 10.1007/s12393-025-09431-8pmid: N/A

In recent years, driven by demand for functional foods and ingredients, early-harvested barley grass has gained growing scientific attention for its nutritional value and bioactive compounds with potential health benefits. This review systematically summarizes current advancements in processing methods for barley grass, including drying, grinding, sterilization, extraction, and fermentation.It highlights innovative techniques such as freeze drying, ultra-fine grinding, non-thermal sterilization, and assisted extraction methods, as well as their effects on product quality, yield, and functional properties.The development of various barley grass-based products, such as powders, juices, and extracts, is also discussed, along with their applications in functional food formulations. Despite substantial progress, there are still challenges in scaling up processing technologies and enhancing product stability. This review offers academic and industrial researchers in barley grass functional food development a comprehensive reference, clarifying processing technology potential and limitations, guiding future innovations, and providing theoretical and technical support for resource development and agricultural product value enhancement.

Hernández-Sihuas, Luiggui; Palomino-Lozano, Ismael; Yupanqui-Ormeño, Francis; Chávez-Llerena, Roxanna T.; Mojo-Quisani, Antonieta; Comettant-Rabanal, Raúl

doi: 10.1007/s12393-025-09432-7pmid: N/A

Freezing is an essential unit operation for food preservation and gives rise to the industrial technique known as individual quick freezing (IQF), which uses high air flow rates, as well as some novel variants under two-phase immersion of the cooling medium and hybrid spray systems to quicken the process at lower cost. IQF applied to fruits and vegetables (F&V) is key to maintaining the nutrients and sensory properties of foods, reducing the formation of large ice crystals compared to conventional freezing. This review article highlights the performance of IQF and describes: (i) the individual quick freezing technique applied in F&V and its novel variants, (ii) explains its different systems, mechanisms and parameters for its application and (iii) evaluated numerical models based on the main transport phenomena based on Fourier’s law, Planck’s law and some previously established dimensionless numbers to determine the heat and mass transfer, as well as the freezing times in F&V using IQF technology. Finally, several applications are described together with their advantages.

Cheng, Jun-Hu; Zhang, Chunfeng; Zhang, Liyan; Wang, Qijun; Lin, Yuandong; Sun, Da-Wen

doi: 10.1007/s12393-025-09430-9pmid: N/A

Food contaminants pose a major threat to public health, underscoring the need for rapid, simple, and high-sensitivity analytical methods. Responsive gating strategies have emerged as a promising approach due to their ability to selectively release or bind signal-transducing substances in response to specific stimuli, generating detectable signals for accurate identification of contaminants. Recent advances have enabled the integration of these strategies into novel biosensors, significantly improving food safety monitoring. This review highlights the underlying principles of responsive gate systems, the materials used in their construction, and their application in detecting mycotoxins, foodborne pathogens, pesticide residues, antibiotics, and heavy metals. These sensors offer key advantages such as ease of use, exceptional stability, sensitivity, and precision, supporting simultaneous measurement through multiple sensing mechanisms and broad target recognition through gatekeeper replacement. Furthermore, their compatibility with portable devices like pH meters and personal glucose meters facilitates real-time, on-site monitoring, advancing the development of practical tools for ensuring food safety.

Adeebpasha, A.; Hemavathi, A. B.; Hebbar, H. Umesh; Bindya, S.; Patil, Anirudh G.; Patil, Gouri

doi: 10.1007/s12393-025-09433-6pmid: N/A

The extensive use of synthetic non-biodegradable plastics in food packaging has led to substantial environmental pollution. This has created an imperative need to develop sustainable and eco-friendly packaging materials capable of undergoing timely biodegradation. Biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polycaprolactone, polybutylene succinate, polybutylene adipate terephthalate, polyglycolic acid, starch, cellulose, gluten, gelatin and collagen show promise as potential alternatives to replace non-biodegradable plastics. However, enhancements in the properties of these biopolymers are obligatory to meet the demanding requirements of food packaging. In this regard, nanotechnology offers an exciting prospect to develop biopolymer-based nanocomposites with remarkable improvements in mechanical, thermal, barrier and functional properties through incorporation of nanoscale fillers. This review highlights recent advances based on sustainable polymer nanocomposite materials for functional food packaging applications. Additionally, it discusses the various challenges involved in commercialization of biopolymer along with a discussion on potential risks associated with certain fillers and strategies for safer material development. Taken together, this comprehensive review emphasizes the ongoing research and progress in the field of sustainable, biodegradable and eco-friendly polymer nanocomposites for food packing applications.