Many food companies have begun to reduce the salt content in their products due to health concerns; however, this reduction in salt content can affect the food's sensory appeal and flavour complexity. Flavour is defined as a combination of odour (i.e., smell), taste (i.e., gustation) and trigeminal sensations (i.e., chemesthesis). Trigeminal sensations are a protective mechanism integral to a human's warning system. Unlike odours and tastes, which interact with olfactory receptors on the epithelium and gustatory receptors on the tongue, chemical irritants act on the pain, temperature, and touch receptors in the oral region. These chemical irritants can lead to sensations such as burning, heat, cooling, and fizziness. This trigeminal stimulation can potentially increase the perception of other tastes and odours. A relationship between trigeminal stimulants (e.g., capsaicin) and the perceived salty taste of food products has been identified. However, this effect on saltiness perception can often be eclipsed by accompanying undesirable sensory characteristics, such as sourness, bitterness, metallic, and burning sensations, resulting in decreased consumer acceptability. Furthermore, the chemical irritants' volatility, reactivity, and low solubility can limit their use in the food industry. This mini-review will characterize the cross-modal interactions of trigeminal stimulants on saltiness perception, as well as discuss their mechanism of action and sensory studies that investigated the use of chemical irritants to enhance saltiness perception. © 2026 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Mushrooms offer a promising solution for sustainable food production due to their nutritional value, low resource requirements, and ability to grow in diverse environments. As interest in mushrooms grows, it is important to understand where current research is focused and where key gaps remain. A bibliometric analysis of 776 research articles indexed in Web of Science revealed a strong emphasis on yield, substrate reuse, and enzymatic degradation, but limited attention to molecular approaches, climate adaptation, and studies from arid regions such as the Middle East. Building on these findings, this review explores the ecological diversity of mushrooms and their adaptations across tropical, temperate, boreal, and arid ecosystems. It discusses the role of mycorrhizal and microbial interactions in nutrient cycling and environmental resilience, including desert truffle symbioses. Key pathways and genetic regulation involved in lignin degradation are outlined, along with recent advancements in transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, and metagenomics that support improved cultivation and bioactive compound production. The review also addresses sustainable practices, such as microbiome integration and resource recycling, to enhance mushroom farming. The aim is to bring together ecological insights and molecular strategies to support sustainable mushroom production, particularly in regions facing resource and climate challenges.

The green revolution enhanced global food production, ensuring food security for a rapidly growing population. However, overreliance on traditional fertilizers has led to environmental degradation and poor nutrient use efficiency. This necessitates a paradigm shift toward sustainable agriculture. Nanofertilizers are a frontier technology having the potential to overcome such challenges by optimizing nutrient delivery and reducing environmental footprint. This review critically assesses the mechanistic basis of nanofertilizers, beginning with synthesis methods and formulation techniques which enable their controlled and targeted nutrient release. It further discusses, the fate and transformation of nanofertilizers in soil and atmospheric matrices. Also, interaction with microbial populations, along with mechanisms of uptake, translocation, and cellular internalization in plants. The review also explores pivotal areas of nanotoxicology, detailing phytotoxicity mechanisms, defining dose-limiting toxicity thresholds, and deliberation on mitigation options. A brief overview of the developing regulatory schemes is also presented, coupled with the present landscape of innovation and future prospects. Such an integration emphasizes the significance of multidisciplinary approach, linking strong regulatory controls with technological development to safely and efficiently harness nanofertilizers for a sustainable and climate-resilient food future.

Informal supply chains ensure the circulation of essential goods despite significant local constraints. In rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa, community networks organize the transport of basic foodstuffs despite impassable roads, distant markets, and seasonal supply fluctuations. In urban diasporas in North America and Europe, communities structure the transnational circulation of food, clothing, and cultural products, overcoming limitations in market access and regulatory frameworks. Drawing on the concept of social capital—structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions—the analysis highlights how actors anticipate needs, adjust operations in real time, and maintain the continuity of flows under variable conditions. The illustrations from rural and urban contexts broaden understanding of logistical mechanisms beyond conventional approaches centered on efficiency and optimization. Insights gained from these illustrations suggest pathways for hybrid supply systems that reconcile formal efficiency with local adaptability. By linking anthropology and supply chain management, the article provides an original perspective on how social relationships, local knowledge, and embedded practices shape resilience and operational agility in informal supply chains.

Introduction Green agricultural development has become a key activity in global sustainable transformation. The Chinese government has actively promoted the transition to green agricultural production through diversified policies. However, the main target group of these policies is smallholder farmers, who have an “intention-behavior gap” in adopting sustainable practices due to their bounded rationality characteristics. Methods Based on the theory of farmer behavior and nudge theory, this study focuses on the micro production behavior of smallholder farmers from the perspective of policy compliance. Two experimental surveys are administered in the Guangxi Heping Town Pueraria thomsonii (a common plant) planting area in China to investigate the internal mechanisms guiding decision-making related to smallholder farmers' green production behaviors, given specific behavioral constraints. The experiments explore the role of nudge strategies on the green production behavior of smallholder farmers. Results The results show that both dynamic and static descriptive norms promote smallholder farmers' green production behaviors, with dynamic descriptive norms playing a greater role. Perceived economic and ecological value both promote smallholder farmers' green production behaviors and have comparable roles. The degree of organization exerts a significant positive moderating role in both dynamic and static descriptive norms in promoting smallholder farmers' green production behaviors. Discussion This study addresses the decision-making dilemmas arising from smallholder farmers' bounded rationality through behavioral nudge mechanisms. This highlights actionable solutions for promoting agricultural green transition and sustainable food production systems in smallholder-dominated regions.

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) is one of most common Salmonella serovars associated with human illness in the U.S. and worldwide. Surveillance from the U.S. National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System indicates an increase in both chicken and human isolates of S. Enteritidis with decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin (DSC), a critical antibiotic prescribed for complicated human salmonellosis infections. S. Enteritidis reduction in chickens is a priority of poultry producers and public health agencies to improve food safety. In the current study, efficacy assessment of a live Salmonella vaccine (BBS 1134) revealed significant reduction of cecal and splenic colonization, and prevention of dissemination to the bone marrow by DSC S. Enteritidis in broiler chickens. Microbiome analysis indicated the cecal microbiota of vaccinated chickens is distinct compared to mock-vaccinated birds. The IDEXX SE Ab X2 Test did not detect antibodies to S. Enteritidis in vaccinated chicken serum, thereby permitting differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA). Altogether, the Salmonella vaccine is a DIVA vaccine, afforded cross-protection, and significantly reduced intestinal colonization and dissemination to the spleen and bone marrow by DSC S. Enteritidis in chickens, thereby offering a prospective intervention for animal production to reduce food product contamination and improve food safety.

Abstract For many people around the world, especially in Indigenous communities, seasonal changes affect the availability and desirability of different types of food. Assessing the relationship between seasonality, sociocultural preferences and hunting patterns is vital for understanding how these populations harness seasonal food production dynamics to create dietary resilience. In Madagascar's Makira Protected Area, local residents rely on hunting wild animals for nutrition. However, many of the species that they hunt are threatened due to a combination of pressures, including from hunting, habitat loss and climate change. To protect these species and meet the needs of local people, understanding the drivers of hunting practices is critical. Building on social–ecological systems theory and a biocultural calendar framework, we combined multiple data sources to analyse the interplay between wild animal population dynamics, availability of food resources for animals, hunting effort and catch and people's stated taste preferences among wildlife species by season throughout the year. We found no significant correlation between the estimated density of species and hunting success. However, we found that peak snare hunting effort occurred in April, several months after maximum fruit availability and coinciding with the period when local people reported that frugivorous lemurs tasted the best. Hunting success for frugivorous lemurs also showed a strong seasonal trend, peaking in April. Catch rates of animals with other diet types exhibited less seasonality, but respondents still indicated a preference for eating various species during April–May. Survey data indicate a clear taste preference for frugivorous lemurs over animals with other diet types (such as omnivores, carnivores, or folivores). Human taste preferences for frugivorous lemurs also showed the strongest seasonality. Our findings support the hypothesis that hunters pursue frugivorous lemurs when catch success may be more likely, which coincides with the time when they taste best, possibly due to the animals' recent fruit consumption. This highlights the complex relationships between ecological dynamics, human preferences and hunting practices in the Makira Protected Area. Understanding these interactions, while also considering alternative explanations, can inform effective conservation and food security strategies that consider both wildlife protection and the nutritional needs of local communities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Temperature critically governs crop growth. While greenhouses address food security, they rely on energy-intensive temperature control systems. Transitioning to smart, self-regulating greenhouse covers with minimal energy demand is essential for sustainable agriculture. We present a transparent nanophotonic film that maintains crops within a stable and narrow temperature range despite external fluctuations, enabling energy-efficient, all-weather thermoregulation. The film features a TiO2/Ag/TiO2 antireflection nanostructure deposited on a flexible polydimethylsiloxane substrate, delivering: (i) high visible transmittance with enhanced light diffusion for optimal photosynthesis, (ii) on-demand switching between radiative cooling and heat retention to stabilize temperatures with minimal fluctuations, and (iii) exceptional long-term durability and scalability─collectively boosting crop yields. Outdoor tests confirm reduced air/soil temperature swings versus conventional covers, substantially boosting crop yields by ≥106.4%. Global projections indicate up to 38.3% higher food productivity. This work overcomes traditional greenhouse limitations─accelerating growth, maximizing biomass, and enhancing stress resilience─ushering in sustainable, high-yield agriculture.

This study explores the self-perception of small-scale artisanal food enterprises and their potential for food upcycling as a sustainable strategy to reduce food waste. The primary aim is to identify the characteristics of artisanal food production and to assess innovative uses for waste materials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight enterprises from various sectors (bakeries, breweries, ice cream manufacturers, and dairies) to gain insights into the artisanal food sector and their handling of residual materials. Findings reveal a strong reliance of artisanal food businesses on traditional manufacturing methods and manual labor, resulting in high-quality, unique products. Moreover, there is notable potential for food upcycling, even though most of the enterprises already try to use most of their side streams in different ways. This study indicates that through a combination of tradition and innovation, artisanal food production can contribute to sustainability. The results provide valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers aiming to develop a definition of the food craft sector. Further research is recommended to quantify the economic and environmental benefits of upcycling strategies in artisanal contexts as well as to establish a definition of the food craft.

Enhancing stable Technosols formation through iron tailing-amended sludge composting and plant colonization.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper was to investigates value addition activities of palm oil supply chain in Kigoma region, Tanzania. A case research design was adopted in which questionnaire and interview was used to collect data from 130 respondents. The study findings revealed that main actors in Kigoma palm oil supply chain are farmers (46%) followed by processors (38.2%) and traders while non-governments (6.3%) and government agents (9.1%) being the minority. Seed production, nursery, cultivation and harvesting are main upstream (production) supply chain activities. At Midstream (Processing), main activities include processing of crude palm/kernel oil by refining, fractionating and distilling into marketable forms which are suitable for manufacturing food and non-food products. While in downstream activities includes marketing of food and non-food products from refined and crude palm and kernel oil. Study further revealed that palm oil sub-sector create employment, increase income, promote other sector development and improve living standard of majority farmers in Kigoma Region. Though several challenges like shortage of capital among small farmers in Kigoma, unreliable local and international market, poor infrastructure network in Kigoma rural areas and low level of technological application in palm industry as main constrains. The study recommended that government support is more required for enhance capacity building among small farmers, invest in research and development, improve Infrastructure Network and increase support to farmers through its agents like SIDO, TBS, TFDA, financial institutions, ministry of industry and other public institutions.

Comparative study of inorganic, organic, and functional calcium salts on thermal and rheological properties of sanxan hydrogels.

The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus provides a framework for understanding how actions in one sector can influence outcomes in the others, often in complex and unintended ways. Traditional sector-specific policies frequently overlook the trade-offs and synergies between water, energy, and food systems. This study builds on previous policy analyses by examining the evolution of WEF nexus-integration in legislative documents submitted to the California State Legislature over a 25-year period for the Salton Sea region—an area where WEF sectors drive the local economy but face competing interests and significant environmental change. Salton Sea-Focused documents were analyzed using qualitative content analysis in NVivo , followed by inferential statistical techniques implemented in SPSS. Findings reveal that a high degree of WEF integration is not necessarily predictive of policy adoption. Some proposals demonstrated “gold-tier” integration, encompassing actionable and meaningful measures across all three sectors, yet failed to become law. Instead, the most successful policies were reactive, addressing environmental threats to food production and prioritizing water–food (WF) synergies. Over time, shifts from WF to water–energy (WE) synergies reflected the non-linear nature of reactive policy-making, even though not all of them were enacted into law (chaptered). We propose that future successful policy-making in the region will likely be grounded in community-led priorities, particularly public health concerns informed by scientific evidence. This approach furthers the historical pattern where science had identified ecological damage, which then shaped conservation-finance legislation aligned with the dominant sectoral synergy of the time—historically, WF, while also accounting for the complex role of energy within the nexus to support enduring, sustainable development. Other locations facing profound environmental change may look to the evolution of policy in this region for lessons on trade-offs between WEF sectoral synergies and reactive, non-linear policy-making.

For laying hens in the late stage of peak production, dysregulated liver lipids are one of the leading causes of declining egg production. Glucuronolactone (D-Glu) is used as a functional beverage additive in human food products and has been reported to play a role in lipid metabolism. However, its use with laying hens is rarely reported. This study integrated in vitro avian hepatocyte culture(LMH) models and in vivo layinghen trials to investigate the regulatory effects of D-Glu on hepatic lipid deposition. D-Glu significantly reduced intracellular lipid deposition in hepatocytes both in vivo and in vitro models, while also improving the production performance of laying hens. Liver lipidomic profiling revealed that D-Glu supplementation increased hepatic phospholipid abundance and reduced triglyceride (TG) accumulation, particularly by decreasing TG species enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). This reduction in hepatic lipids is achieved by downregulating genes associated with fatty acid (FA) synthesis (FASN,ACSL, and PPAR-γ) and transport (FABP1 and CD36) pathways in the liver. Notably, D-Glu administration modulated the relative abundance of specific bacteria, particularly Bacteroides, CHKCI001, and Angelakisella, during hepatic lipid reduction mediation. Furthermore, D-Glu modified the composition of FA in the yolk, increasing the deposition of PUFA. Correlation analyses strongly supported the involvement of the enterohepatic axis in the lipid-lowering mechanism of D-Glu. D-Glu mediates lipid redistribution via the enterohepatic axis, effectively reducing hepatic lipid deposition while promoting the deposition of PUFA in egg yolk, ultimately alleviating the decline in production performance during the late peak laying period.

The presence of mycotoxins is a recurring problem in corn agro-industrial complexes, reflecting a serious safety problem in food production. The ozone gas technology can be an alternative to reduce contamination in corn due to its high oxidizing potential, capable of degrading fungi and mycotoxins. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of ozone on the technological properties of corn starch in the face of zearalenone mycotoxin decontamination. For that, white corn grains were exposed to time (45, 90, and 135 min) and ozone concentration (2 and 10 mg/L) during the starch extraction. At 90 and 135 min of ozone exposure, the zearalenone mycotoxin (137.6 μg/kg) was completely reduced to below the quantification limit at both ozone concentrations. The ozonized starch color was not altered at 90 min, but was altered at 180 min due to a reduction in L* value. The moisture content of ozonized starch was within the standards authorized by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, which allows up to 15% of moisture. The starch morphology was affected by ozonization, resulting in rough and fibrous at 135 min and 10 mg/L of ozone. Differential exploratory calorimetry analysis showed that the starch gelatinization temperature was higher at 135 min compared to the other treatments. However, there was not much difference in temperature variation between them to complete gelatinization. Ozone treatment has been shown to be an effective and secure technology to apply in order to decontaminate zearalenone mycotoxin in corn starch.

With the global population projected to continue to increase, the necessity for food security (i.e., a region’s ability to reliably provide food to its residents) becomes ever-present. Aquaculture is currently one of the most prevalent methods for propagating aquatic species, though aquaponics (i.e., combining aquaculture and hydroponics to artificially propagate aquatic species and plants) is often considered a more sustainable food production method in comparison. Though aquaponics is promising both environmentally and socially, the general aquaponics business model is failing to generate proper revenue in many instances. The addition of value-added and value-recovered processes is one option for producers to increase the value of their final products without major capital investment. A paper survey was deployed for this study for both aquaculture and aquaponics operations, given the current prevalence of aquaculture and infancy of aquaponics in the United States. The survey aims to understand the basic parameters of their operation while also gauging interest in the addition of value-added and value-recovered products for their operations. Less than half of the respondents were interested in value-added and value-recovered products for several different reasons. The survey also provides useful information related to operation, prior experiences, and potential future directions for aquaponics in the United States, though investigation into consumer preferences is required for optimized success of the aquaponics industry.

Greenhouse agriculture plays a vital role in sustainable food production but also entails challenges such as high energy consumption and significant carbon emissions. To address these issues and evaluate the feasibility of adopting alternative energy sources such as green hydrogen, it is essential to precisely understand the spatial structure of agricultural facilities and accurately predict their energy demands. However, effectively processing real-world datasets—characterized by complex aerial imagery and severe class imbalance—remains a technical challenge. This study proposes a deep learning-based framework for accurately detecting and segmenting greenhouses using high-resolution aerial images. To improve object detection performance, a class-weighted loss function and a class-aware sampling strategy were integrated into the You Only Look Once 8 (YOLOv8) model to mitigate the effects of class imbalance. The proposed model achieved an overall mean average precision (mAP)@0.5:0.95 of 0.566, with precision increasing to 0.881 and recall improving to 0.822, demonstrating balanced and robust performance across classes. Additionally, the model was combined with the Segment Anything Model (SAM) to enhance segmentation precision, and its performance was compared against Open-World Localization Vision Transformer (OWL-ViT) + SAM and YOLOv8-only segmentation approaches. Experimental results show that the YOLOv8 + SAM (Fusion) configuration achieved the highest Intersection over Union (IoU) of 0.7588 and Dice coefficient (Dice) of 0.8578, demonstrating superior boundary accuracy and mask consistency compared to other methods. The joint application of class weighting and sampling improved recall for minority classes such as greenhouses, while SAM-based segmentation enhanced boundary fidelity and shape preservation. Based on the segmented areas, greenhouse surface areas were calculated, and a conservative energy consumption benchmark was applied to estimate annual energy demand. This research presents a practical baseline for evaluating the potential of renewable energy integration in agriculture and is expected to contribute to future strategies for achieving carbon neutrality and green hydrogen utilization in the agricultural sector.

Discriminating powdered and infused herbal teas is an essential task in food industry, serving as a key step in ensuring product authenticity, quality, and market value. Models based on spectral indices offer advantages for this purpose, such as low processing time and ease of integration into software applications. In this study, a second derivative spectral index was proposed to differentiate among five types of herbal teas (boldo, carqueja, lemon grass, chamomile, and fennel) in both infused and powdered forms. The effectiveness of different spectral pretreatments (detrending, standard normal variate normalization, object-wise standardization, and first derivative) applied to original spectra was also evaluated. An algorithm was developed, exploring 131,520 combinations of wavelengths and spectral distances between wavebands to identify the optimal configuration for the derivative index. For powdered teas, the most sensitive wavelengths were located between 540 and 707 nm, with band separations ranging from 11 to 36 nm, depending on the pretreatment. In infused samples, sensitive wavelengths extended from 525 to 885 nm, with band separations between 18 and 144 nm. The resulting derivative indices varied considerably across original and pretreated spectra, influencing classification thresholds and overall efficiency. The standard normal variate normalization showed the highest classification effectiveness, achieving overall classification accuracies of 99% for powders and 80% for infusions. These results demonstrate that the proposed method constitutes an efficient approach for herbal tea discrimination, with potential for extension to other food and agricultural products in large-scale industrial applications.

Manilkara zapota, also referred to as sapodilla, is the most prominent and widely grown fruit in the Sapotaceae family. It is distinguished as a nutrient-rich fruit, including sugars, acids, proteins, amino acids, and minerals. Chiku is rich in bioactive components such as ellagitannins, gallotannins, phenolic acids, depsides, and flavonoids including anthocyanins and flavanols. This review seeks to systematically gather critical information and possibility for extracting bioactive chemicals from on sapodilla for exploring its therapeutic potential. In this review we highlight the composition of sapodilla fruit and presents current research findings on the principal pharmacological actions. The significant bioactive qualities indicate potential for employing components from both the edible and inedible sections of sapodilla in the development of innovative food and medicinal products. The nutritional value of sapodilla fruit, along with the phytochemical variety present in its by-products such peels, seeds, bark, and leaves, establishes them as potential sources of nutraceutical components for functional food development. From a pharmacological standpoint, both the consumable and non-consumable components of sapodilla demonstrate potential as antioxidants, anticancer agents, antimicrobials, analgesics, anti-inflammatories, and hepatoprotective agents.

Wheat production in Bangladesh remains inadequate to meet rising demand, increasing dependence on imports. Intercropping improves agricultural productivity by optimizing resource use, controlling weeds, and stabilizing food production to reduce shortage risks. However, the productivity and economic benefits of wheat–leafy vegetable intercropping under local conditions remain insufficiently studied. To explore this potential, an experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, from November 2023 to March 2024. The study aimed to assess the feasibility of cultivating leafy vegetables, mustard, spinach, and red amaranth as intercrops with wheat (cultivar BARRI Gom-33). The experiment employed two wheat planting patterns: 50 cm spaced three-row and four-row wheat strips, alongside sole cropping of wheat and leafy vegetables. Results demonstrated that key wheat parameters, plant height, number of grains per spike, grain yield, and straw yield, were significantly affected by the intercropping treatments. Notably, grain yield was highest in sole wheat (3.18 t/ha) and lowest (1.50 t/ha) in mustard intercropped with wheat at 50 cm three-row spacing. Leafy vegetable yields varied per cropping pattern, with mustard intercropped at 50 cm three-row spacing producing the highest total vegetable yield (14.60 t/ha). Relative yield of wheat ranged from 0.51 to 0.54, indicating approximately 50% yield reduction due to intercropping. All intercropping systems had land equivalent ratios ( greater than 1), with the highest (1.13) in red amaranth with 50 cm four-row wheat strips, indicating land-use efficiency. Intercropping enhanced wheat equivalent yields (up to 11.72 t/ha) and economic benefits, with benefit-cost ratios reaching 4.49 in mustard-wheat systems, demonstrating the advantages of strategic intercropping over sole cropping. Overall, the findings suggest that intercropping leafy vegetables, especially mustard, with wheat, particularly in 50 cm spaced strips with three or four rows, is a promising approach for increasing both productivity and economic gains.