Rakesh Kumar Gupta

The growing demand for sustainable and effective food preservation has increased interest in edible coatings as environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional packaging. This narrative review synthesizes and critically evaluates studies published between 2021 and 2026 on nanoparticle-loaded polysaccharide-based edible coatings and films for food preservation, highlighting recent advances, emerging research trends, current challenges, and future research directions. Edible coatings/films based on natural polymers, including polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids, provide biodegradable barriers against moisture, oxygen, and microbial contamination. However, their practical use is often limited by inadequate mechanical strength, high water vapor permeability, and limited antimicrobial activity. Recent studies have shown that incorporating nanoparticles into edible coating matrices can improve these properties. This review summarizes recent developments in nanoparticle-loaded edible coatings for food preservation, with emphasis on inorganic nanoparticles (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and silver nanoparticles) and biopolymeric nanomaterials (e.g., nanocellulose and nanochitosan). Reported studies indicate that nanoparticle incorporation (typically 1–5% w/w) can increase tensile strength by 30–70%, reduce water vapor permeability by up to 60%, and provide antimicrobial inhibition exceeding 90% against common foodborne pathogens. The review also discusses nanoencapsulation systems for the controlled delivery of bioactive compounds, including essential oils, with reported encapsulation efficiencies of 70–95% and sustained release during storage. In addition, recent fabrication approaches, such as ultrasonication, electrospinning, and cold plasma modification, are outlined for their potential to improve coating performance. Finally, current challenges related to nanoparticle safety, migration, regulatory considerations, and toxicity assessment, including the application of new approach methodologies (NAMs), are highlighted. The review identifies recent advances and remaining challenges in nanocomposite edible coatings to support future research and the development of sustainable food preservation technologies.

The rising preference for eco-friendly food packaging has intensified research on biodegradable materials with enhanced functional performance. Bee-derived bioactives such as beeswax, propolis, honey, and royal jelly have shown significant potential as natural additives owing to their inherent antimicrobial, antioxidant, and barrier-enhancing properties. Upon incorporation into biopolymer matrices including starch, cellulose, chitosan and proteins, these bioactives offer a synergistic approach to developing sustainable and active food packaging systems. This review critically examines recent advances in bee-derived bioactive–reinforced biopolymer-based packaging materials, with a focus on their material properties, bioactivity and food-preservation capabilities. The incorporation of bee-derived components has been shown to significantly improve mechanical strength, water vapor permeability (WVP) and oxygen barrier performance and thermal stability, while simultaneously imparting antimicrobial and antioxidant functionalities that extend food shelf life. Additionally, the biodegradability, migration behavior, and safety considerations of these materials are evaluated to assess their suitability for food- contact applications. Despite their promising performance, challenges remain regarding cost, scalability, standardization of bioactive composition, and regulatory approval. This article highlights future perspectives on optimizing formulations, employing green processing technologies, and valorizing apicultural by-products within a circular bioeconomy framework. Overall, bee-derived bioactives-reinforced biopolymer packaging represents a sustainable, multifunctional, and viable alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics, consistent with international goals for food safety, waste reduction, and environmental sustainability.

Arrowroot starch possesses considerable potential for food, pharmaceutical, and biodegradable packaging applications; however, its industrial utilization is constrained by the limited functionality of native starch. Although cold plasma treatment has been reported to improve the physicochemical properties of arrowroot starch, studies integrating process optimization with intelligent predictive modeling remain scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to enhance the functional properties of arrowroot starch through dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) cold plasma treatment and optimize the process conditions using a hybrid Artificial Neural Network–Particle Swarm Optimization (ANN–PSO) approach. The effects of treatment on physicochemical, thermal, structural, and techno-functional properties were also evaluated. Arrowroot starch was treated at different voltages of DBD (15–25 kV), exposure times on DBD (2–10 min), and temperatures of water bath (70–90 °C). An ANN model was developed to predict swelling power and solubility, while PSO was employed for multi-objective optimization. Cold plasma treatment significantly modified starch characteristics by increasing crystallinity, water and oil uptake capacities and thermal stability while reducing pH and turbidity. The optimized ANN architecture (3-16-8-2) demonstrated excellent predictive performance ranging from R ² of 0.93–0.98 across the training and testing datasets. The R ² score for training and testing datasets of solubility and swelling power were 0.966, 0.926, 0.982 and 0.960, respectively. Multi-objective ANN–PSO optimization identified optimum processing conditions that maximized either solubility (49.94%) at 19.99 kV, 2 min and 90 °C or swelling power (33.05 g/g) at 15 kV, 10 min and 90 °C, with experimental validation showing prediction errors below 2%. The findings demonstrate that DBD cold plasma is an effective green modification technology for tailoring arrowroot starch functionality, while the ANN–PSO framework provides a robust tool for process optimization. This integrated approach offers a sustainable pathway for developing customized starch ingredients for advanced food and industrial applications.

Fig. 1: Integrated valorization pathway for sustainable food processing, illustrating the conversion of agro-waste and seaweeds into high-value proteins, starch, dietary fibres, bioactive compounds, and functional polysaccharides through green extraction technologies, followed by their application in active and intelligent food packaging and innovative food products, supporting circular bioeconomy, resource efficiency, food security, and environmental sustainability.Agro-waste is generated in substantial quantities throughout agricultural production, processing, and food manufacturing, creating significant environmental and economic challenges. Global waste generation is expected to reach over 2.6 billion tonnes by 2030, and 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050 (Lackner, & Besharati, 2025). Residues such as cereal bran and husks, fruit and vegetable peels, seeds, stalks, shells, and processing by-products are frequently discarded, burned, or poorly managed. Such practices can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, soil and water pollution, unpleasant odors, and the loss of potentially valuable nutrients and functional compounds (Kumari et al., 2026). However, growing interest in circular bioeconomy approaches has shifted the perspective from agro-waste as a disposal problem toward its recognition as a renewable and valuable resource.Many agricultural residues contain considerable amounts of proteins, starch, dietary fibers, lipids, minerals, phenolic compounds, pigments, and other bioactive constituents (Rof et al., 2026). Advances in green extraction, fractionation, fermentation, enzymatic processing, and biorefinery technologies have created opportunities to recover these components and convert them into high-value ingredients and functional materials. Agro-waste-derived proteins can be incorporated into food formulations, edible films, coatings, and biodegradable packaging, while starch can serve as a versatile matrix for developing sustainable packaging materials and functional food products (Pipliya et al., 2025). Phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, and other bioactives recovered from agricultural residues can provide antioxidant and antimicrobial functionality, supporting both food preservation and product innovation (Ali et al., 2025).The valorization of agro-waste therefore offers multiple benefits, including waste reduction, resource conservation, additional revenue generation for agricultural and food-processing sectors, and reduced dependence on fossil-based materials. Integrating efficient recovery technologies with safe, scalable, and economically viable processing strategies can transform agro-waste into a feedstock for next-generation food ingredients, packaging materials, and biobased products, thereby supporting a more sustainable and circular food system.Agro-industrial residues represent an important yet underutilized source of high-value biomolecules, including proteins, starch, dietary fibers, polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, pigments, essential oils, and other bioactive compounds. Protein recoveries of 22% (muscle), 33% (head), 78% (viscera), 24% (skin), and 26% (tailfin) were achieved utilising pressurised liquid extraction; these values were 1.2-4.5 times greater than those produced from traditional stirred extraction (Li et al., 2022). A study suggested that, starch was isolated from the taro tuber peel byproduct and the particle size of native taro peel starch displayed ranging from 0.76 to 1.84 µm (Gupta et al., 2024). The most recent research is moving toward integrated and cascade biorefinery approaches, in which several classes of biomolecules are sequentially recovered from the same agro-waste stream rather than targeting a single compound. A study by Hurtado-Rios et al. (2026) identified polyphenols, natural pigments, dietary fibre and prebiotics, lipids, proteins and bioactive peptides as major high-value fractions obtainable from agro-industrial by-products and emphasized UAE, SFE and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) as important green-recovery platforms. Similarly, Shawky et al. (2025) highlighted the potential of agricultural residues, post-harvest losses and food-processing by-products as sources of polyphenols, carotenoids, dietary fibres, bioactive peptides and lipids, supporting their conversion into functional foods, nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients and other valueadded products. Importantly, the 2026 review analyzed 98 eligible studies after screening 200 initially identified records, demonstrating the rapid expansion of research in this area (Hurtado-Rios et al., 2026). The current scientific trend is therefore shifting from simple waste disposal or single-compound extraction toward zero-waste/circular biorefineries, where multiple bioactive fractions are recovered through sequential green extraction, purification and stabilization. Such systems can improve resource efficiency and economic value, although scale-up remains constrained by matrix variability, extraction selectivity, solvent recovery, product stability, process economics and techno-environmental performance (Hurtado-Rios et al., 2026;Shawky et al., 2025).Seaweeds are emerging as a next-generation sustainable biomaterial because they combine rapid biomass production, renewability, biodegradability, and a rich composition of functional polysaccharides without requiring arable land or freshwater for cultivation. Their major structural polymers-alginate, agar, carrageenan, ulvan, agarose, laminarin and fucoidanprovide diverse chemical functionalities that can be converted into films, hydrogels, membranes, aerogels, fibers and composite materials. Recent research has particularly highlighted brown-seaweed-derived alginate as a promising precursor for biodegradable plastics, with functional additives, crosslinking agents and nanoscale reinforcements capable of substantially improving mechanical strength, water-barrier performance, antioxidant activity and...

Packaging plays a pivotal role in preserving the quality, safety, and marketability of frozen foods, whose demand continues to rise with changing consumer lifestyles and socioeconomic trends. Since high-moisture foods such as fish and meat are highly perishable, appropriate freezing and packaging strategies are essential to maintain freshness, minimize quality deterioration, and ensure consumer safety throughout storage and distribution, while considering consumer preference for minimally processed products that retain their natural attributes. Conventional frozen food packaging is often associated with limitations such as inadequate barrier performance, uncontrolled ice crystal formation, freezer burn, and drip loss, all of which can adversely affect product quality. This review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of emerging frozen food packaging technologies, highlighting recent advances in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), high-pressure processing (HPP), gas-flushing techniques, active and intelligent packaging systems, phase change materials, advanced insulation materials, and smart cold-chain monitoring technologies. Particular emphasis is placed on their roles in improving product stability, extending shelf life, reducing energy consumption, and enhancing supply-chain efficiency. By critically evaluating these innovations and identifying current research gaps, this review offers valuable insights into the future development of sustainable and high-performance packaging solutions for frozen foods.

Ensuring food safety and preventing spoilage are major challenges in today’s globalized food supply chain. Conventional detection methods, such as microbial culture, dye reduction tests, and sensory evaluation, are often slow, labour-intensive, and unsuitable for rapid on-site applications. This highlights the urgent need for real-time, accurate, and user-friendly technologies to monitor food quality and protect consumer health. Electrochemical biosensors have emerged as next-generation tools for detecting food spoilage and monitoring food safety. These devices combine biological recognition elements with electrochemical transducers to convert biochemical interactions into measurable electrical signals. This review summarizes recent advances (2023–2025) in electrochemical biosensing systems tailored for food applications. Various sensor types, detection mechanisms, and their performance in identifying spoilage indicators, pathogens, toxins, and chemical contaminants across different food matrices are systematically discussed. Specific spoilage and safety-related analytes, including L-lactic acid in milk and wine, histamine and putrescine in fish, volatile organic compounds such as hexanal and 1-octen-3-ol, deoxynivalenol in cereal products, pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus , pesticide residues, antibiotic residues, and heavy metals, are discussed across meat, seafood, dairy, fruit, vegetable, grain, and beverage matrices. Reported sensor performances demonstrate high sensitivity, with examples including L-lactic acid detection at 1 μM, histamine detection around 0.97 mg/L, VOC detection at 0.1 μM, and deoxynivalenol detection down to 0.24 mg/L. Innovations such as nanomaterial-modified electrodes, flexible and microfluidic platforms, and integration into intelligent packaging are highlighted as key contributors to enhanced sensitivity, portability, and real-time data analytics. Electrochemical biosensors show strong potential to reduce food waste by enabling early spoilage detection and timely intervention. While challenges in cost, long-term stability, regulatory validation, and industrial standardization remain, continued technological development and interdisciplinary collaboration will drive their adoption in sustainable and digitalized Food Safety 4.0 systems.