Artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly applied to address challenges in food packaging, including food waste, sustainability, and real-time quality assurance. However, existing studies are often confined to specific applications, with limited integration across different stages of the packaging life cycle and insufficient linkage between material performance, functionality, and system-level outcomes. This review systematically analyzes peer-reviewed studies retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (2021-2025), selected based on their relevance to AI applications in food packaging, including material performance, safety, and life cycle management. A life cycle-oriented framework is proposed, linking major AI paradigms (supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement, deep learning, and hybrid models) to six key domains: material design, production optimization, food quality prediction, safety assurance, smart labeling and traceability, and recycling. Within this framework, AI supports data-driven prediction, monitoring, and decision-making, whereas hybrid models improve robustness in complex, multifactor systems. Despite challenges related to data quality, model generalization, and regulatory acceptance, AI-driven packaging systems may support a transition from passive containment toward more adaptive and data-informed solutions that improve efficiency, sustainability, and consumer trust.

Despite the growing popularity of plant-based milk and beverages (PBM/Bs), critical challenges regarding nutritional inadequacy, off-flavors, and phase instability continued to hinder their acceptance as complete dairy alternatives. This systematic review synthesized data from 171 peer-reviewed studies to evaluate how plant sources, processing techniques, and functional additives influenced the nutritional quality, sensory characteristics, and physicochemical properties of PBM/Bs. The review covered diverse plant bases, including legumes, cereals, nuts, seeds, and blends, to assess their distinct nutrient profiles and formulation challenges. Results indicated that processing methods, such as fermentation, enzymatic hydrolysis, high-pressure processing, and ultrasonication, significantly modified extraction efficiency, digestibility, flavor profiles, and emulsion stability. Furthermore, the incorporation of functional additives was identified as a key factor in optimizing sensory and nutritional outcomes. Although these interventions improved texture and shelf life, limitations such as low protein content in cereal-based beverages and characteristic off-notes in legumes persisted. The study identified emerging strategies, particularly plant matrix blending and multistep processing, as promising solutions to these bottlenecks. Ultimately, this review underscored the necessity for precise formulation and targeted processing approaches to enhance PBM/B performance, ensuring the development of clean-label, nutritious, and sustainable products that meet consumer expectations.

The growing global demand for plant-based proteins was largely attributed to the need to mitigate the environmental burdens associated with animal agriculture. Conventional extraction techniques are often energy-intensive and environmentally detrimental, underscoring the necessity for more sustainable and energy-efficient alternatives. Emerging extraction technologies can improve protein yield and, under properly controlled processing conditions, better preserve structural and functional attributes. However, these effects are strongly parameter dependent, as excessive energy input, localized overheating, oxidative reactions, or pressure-induced aggregation may lead to structural deterioration and functionality loss. This review discussed the underlying protein extraction mechanisms, applications in plant protein extraction, and associated environmental and functional benefits of emerging physical field-assisted technologies, including ultrasound (US), pulsed electric fields (PEFs), microwave (MW), radiofrequency (RF), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), and cold plasma (CP), in detail. In addition, the review evaluated the structure-function relationships of proteins treated with these techniques and highlighted their energy-efficient, low-carbon sustainability. Physical field-assisted technologies can provide higher energy efficiency, faster processing, and reduced solvent use than conventional methods, although these benefits remain condition-dependent. Through mechanisms such as acoustic cavitation and electroporation, they enhance protein release and enable controlled structural modification to tailor functionality for applications such as plant-based meat analogs. Their industrial deployment may be supported by digital twins and artificial intelligence as process-optimization tools, provided that advanced sensorization, validated multi-physics models, robust data governance, and techno-economic feasibility are achieved. Future work should emphasize multi-field coupling, real-time monitoring, lifecycle assessment, and scale-up validation for sustainable protein biorefineries.

The coffee industry is under growing pressure to implement sustainable practices while enhancing product value. Food-grade microbial fermentation (FMF) offers a viable pathway for valorize coffee and its by-products, thereby supporting the sustainable transformation of the coffee sector. This review systematically elaborates on the selection of fermentation microorganisms and their functional properties, evaluates fermentation-induced changes in the nutritional and bioactive constituents of coffee, and elucidates the underlying mechanisms facilitating the transformation and release of these components. Furthermore, the review analyzes the influence of microbial activity on the flavor and aroma profile of coffee and summarizes the health-promoting effects enhanced by fermentation, together with their associated molecular mechanisms. Safety aspects related to FMF are also critically discussed. Accumulating evidence indicates that fermented coffee exhibits a broad spectrum of bioactivities, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, hypolipidemic, antidiabetic, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory effects. These properties support its application in the development of functional beverages such as probiotic-enriched and reduced-caffeine coffee products. Additionally, FMF enables the transformation of coffee by-products into high-value products such as functional ingredients, enzymes, and organic acids, offering a viable strategy for waste reduction and economic optimization. The originality of this review lies in its integrative synthesis of recent advances in FMF from the perspectives of coffee quality enhancement, mechanisms of health effects, and safety risk management. By constructing a comprehensive analytical framework of "fermentation regulation-component transformation-functional realization," this review provides clear academic guidance for the future development of fermented coffee in functional foods and sustainable industrial applications.

As dairy enterprises increasingly focus on microbial contamination, traditional detection technologies are gradually showing limitations in terms of detection capability, accurate source tracking, and rapid response, especially when dealing with microbial communities in complex processing environments. Fortunately, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and metagenomic sequencing provide innovative alternative solutions. These technologies significantly improve the detection of harmful microbes by offering strain-level resolution, detecting low-abundance organisms, and uncovering previously undetectable microbes. This review discusses the application of WGS and metagenomic sequencing in microbial monitoring, contamination source tracking, and quality control across the entire milk powder production chain. In particular, it highlights the progress made in microbial typing and source tracking, as well as in the detection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factor genes (VFGs). This review also compares microbial control standards for milk powder and its processing environment across different countries and international organizations, providing a regulatory perspective. Furthermore, the integration of emerging technologies is also discussed, particularly machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL). Artificial intelligence (AI) enables more efficient, predictive, and accurate microbial monitoring, improving contamination control and contributing to safer and higher-quality milk powder production processes. This review provides critical insights that contribute to improving microbial safety management and control strategies in milk powder production.

Kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a globally distributed and rich in bioactive compounds with diverse health benefits. Despite extensive research characterizing these bioactives, systematic assessment of processing-induced changes and their regulatory mechanisms remains limited. This review evaluates the health implications of key kidney bean nutrients and bioactives. It particularly focuses on the dual roles of antinutritional factors and highlights the synergistic interactions among the bean's constituents. The article examines how thermal, nonthermal, bioprocessing, and other emerging technologies modulate health-promoting properties, detailing the mechanisms by which processing influences nutrient bioavailability, reduction of antinutritional factors, functional-component enrichment, and allergenicity. Evidence suggests that integrative processing approaches offer significant advantages. These include enhancing nutrient bioaccessibility, mitigating antinutrients, elevating the levels of functional components, and improving safety. A health-oriented processing framework is proposed, grounded in the characteristics of bioactive components and processing principles, to guide precise optimization of kidney bean health benefits and industrial applications. Looking forward, multiomics approaches should elucidate metabolic and regulatory networks of kidney bean constituents, supporting clinically informed, personalized interventions, and driving innovation and standardization of advanced processing technologies.

Bioactive phytochemicals (BPs) offer significant health benefits, but their efficacy is severely limited by low bioavailability due to entrapment within the complex food matrix, which is a double-edged sword that protects BPs yet inhibits their release. Traditional processing methods, such as thermal or mechanical treatments, disrupt the food matrix and liberate vulnerable free BPs; however, subsequent secondary encapsulation processes are often costly and inefficient. This review introduces and critically evaluates the emerging concept of an "engineered food matrix" as a targeted strategy to overcome these limitations. This review synthesizes the mechanisms underlying BPs-food matrix interactions and systematically assesses precision nonthermal processing technologies, including high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, and enzymatic treatments, which are designed to selectively modify food matrix structures. The approaches aim to weaken absorption barriers while preserving protective BPs, thereby enhancing BP bioavailability. Current evidence confirms that such precision engineering significantly improves bioavailability compared to traditional methods. However, challenges remain in scaling these strategies and validating their functionality in diverse food systems. Future research must prioritize bridging the gap between laboratory efficacy and industrial application. This review fills a critical gap by consolidating advances in engineered food matrix strategies and provides guidance for developing next-generation functional foods with optimized BPs delivery.

Eggshell membrane (ESM) is a poultry egg-processing by-product increasingly recognized as a valuable food-relevant bioresource and a potential food-grade functional ingredient due to its rich composition (collagen, keratin, glycosaminoglycans) and inherent bioactivities. This comprehensive review examines the structural composition and key functional properties of ESM, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. Recent advances in ESM separation and modification techniques are systematically evaluated, spanning physical (mechanical separation, ultrasonication), chemical (acid/base treatments), and biological (enzymatic hydrolysis) methods, with particular emphasis on green, sustainable processing approaches that preserve functionality. Interdisciplinary applications of ESM are critically discussed across the food, health, and packaging sectors. For example, ESM is being explored as a functional ingredient in nutraceuticals and functional foods, as a functional ingredient in nutraceuticals and functional foods (including dietary supplements), and as an active component in biodegradable/edible packaging materials; selected non-food biomedical uses are briefly noted for context. This review also addresses current challenges in scaling up ESM utilization-including improving extraction efficiency, ensuring quality consistency, and meeting regulatory requirements-and highlights future directions for precision modification and multi-sector collaboration. Overall, the integrative analysis provides scientific insights and technical guidance for the sustainable high-value utilization of ESM across multiple disciplines.

Active food packaging is advancing from static barrier layers to programmable mass-transfer systems in which polymer chemistry, carrier architecture, and package geometry determine when, where, and how fast active species are released, scavenged, or transformed. Here, programmable mass transfer is defined as the deliberate control of time- and space-dependent fluxes through four main levers: active loading and speciation, carrier affinity, layer thickness and placement, and package geometry with boundary conditions. Relative to reviews published in the past 3 years that mainly organize the field by material class, active function, or broad sustainability trends, this paper contributes an integrated design framework built around state-dependent mobility and partition maps, right-sized dosing from target concentration-time trajectories, transferability criteria for model calibration, and a retort practicality window based on barrier recovery and active kinetics at 0h, 24h, and 7 days. The review covers molecular and mesoporous carriers, electrospun and emulsion-based architectures, stimuli-responsive systems, oxygen and carbon-dioxide management, antimicrobial and antioxidant modules, and retortable structures under compliance and circularity constraints. Across these topics, emphasis is placed on replacing single-condition "book values" with operating-window parameter maps that include temperature, relative humidity, condensation history, weak-link regions, and external mass-transfer resistance. Safety-by-design is treated as a coequal objective through immobilized actives, worst-case migration and NIAS control, and standardized reporting suited to cold-chain validation. A scale-up roadmap is finally outlined that couples mechanistic models, data-driven surrogates, and in-pack sensing to deliver robust performance with recyclable monomaterial or ultrathin-coated architectures.

The migration of intentionally and non-intentionally added substances (IAS/NIAS) from food packaging into foodstuffs presents a significant challenge to consumer health and food safety. Accurate and comprehensive identification of these chemical migrants is therefore paramount. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in the analytical workflows used to identify these migrants. We critically evaluate the latest developments in both gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Special attention is given to cutting-edge techniques, such as comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) for enhanced separation of complex mixtures, high-resolution filtering (HRF) for leveraging the dual advantages of gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) accurate mass measurements and conventional low-resolution spectral matching, and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) for its unique ability to resolve isomers. Concurrently, we provide an in-depth critique of the evolving data analysis strategies, from conventional targeted analysis to the more comprehensive suspect and nontargeted screening approaches. The principles, advantages, and limitations of each workflow are discussed in the context of their application to food packaging materials. Then, the review dissects major bottlenecks, notably the scarcity of reference standards and comprehensive mass spectral libraries, which hinder confident identification. Looking forward, we highlight promising future directions, emphasizing that the synergistic integration of open-access mass spectral databases, adoption of novel analytical techniques, and machine learning-based molecular property prediction will facilitate the identification of IAS and NIAS in food packaging. In addition, integrating chemical analysis with bioassays will enable the prioritization of high-hazard chemicals, ultimately improving the safety evaluation of food packaging.