Prospects and application of nanobiotechnology in food preservation: molecular perspectives

Nanomaterials with Enzyme-like Properties for Combatting Foodborne Pathogen Infections: Classifications, Mechanisms, and Applications in Food Preservation

During the transportation and storage of food, foodborne spoilage caused by bacterial and biofilm infection is prone to occur, leading to issues such as short shelf life, economic loss, and sensory quality instability. Therefore, the development of novel and efficient antibacterial agents capable of efficiently inhibiting bacteria throughout various stages of food processing, transportation, and storage is strongly recommended by researchers. The emergence of nanozymes is considered to be an effective candidate for inhibiting foodborne bacteria agents in the food industry. As potent antibacterial agents, nanozymes have the advantages of low cost, high stability, strong broad-spectrum antibacterial ability, and biocompatibility. Herein, we aim to summarize the classification status of various nanozymes. Furthermore, the general catalytic bacteriostatic mechanism of nanozymes against intracellular bacteria, planktonic bacteria, and biofilm activities are highlighted, mainly concerning the destruction of cell walls and/or membranes, reactive oxygen species regulation, HOBr/Cl generation, damage of intracellular components, and so forth. In particular, the review focuses on the pivotal role of nanozymes as antibacterial agents and delivery vehicles in the fields of food preservation applications. We look forward to the future prospects, especially in the field of food preservation, to promote broader applications based on antimicrobial nanozymes.

Nanoencapsulation application to prolong postharvest shelf life

This review offers our opinion on current and future trends regarding nanoencapsulation interventions to extend postharvest shelf life of stored grains, fruits, and vegetables. Herein, we considered two major factors influencing postharvest shelf life for comments: aerobic food spoilage microorganisms and stored pests. Nanoemulsions, edible/active coatings, and nanopackaging loading essential oils as antimicrobial, antioxidant, or pesticide showed promising results in prolonged shelf life at room/cold storage without compromising quality, organoleptic properties, and postharvest physiology. Trends with nanoencapsulation using plant-based pesticides as agrochemical-free methods to keep produce fresh longer were commented as potential candidates for prolonging the shelf life of stored grains and fruits at the postharvest stage. Research with potential large-scale feasibility is intensive, but safety assessment is required and remains little explored.

Use of quasi-SMILES to build models based on quantitative results from experiments with nanomaterials

Quasi-SMILES deviate from traditional SMILES (simplified molecular input-line entry system) by the extension of additional symbols that encode for conditions of an experiment. Descriptors calculated with SMILES are useful for the development of quantitative structure-property/activity relationships (QSPRs/QSARs), while descriptors calculated with quasi-SMILES can be useful for the development of quantitative models of experimental results obtained under different conditions. Here, this approach has been applied for the development of generalized models using aquatic nanotoxicity data (i.e., related to fish and daphnia). The statistical quality of the above models (pLC50) is quite good with a determination coefficient for the external validation set ranging from 0.62 to 0.71 and RMSE ranging from 0.58 to 0.60. The principle of the approach includes splitting the experimental data into three random distributions defining training, calibration, and validation sets.

Recent development in antibacterial activity and application of nanozymes in food preservation

Nanozymes with excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial properties offers an alternative strategy for food preservation. This review comprehensively summarized the antibacterial mechanisms of nanozymes, including the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the destruction of biofilms. Besides, the primary factors (size, morphology, hybridization, light, etc.) regulating the antibacterial activity of different types of nanozymes were highlighted in detail, which provided effective guidance on how to design highly efficient antibacterial nanozymes. Moreover, this review presented elaborated viewpoints on the unique applications of nanozymes in food preservation, including the selection of nanozymes loading matrix, fabrication techniques of nanozymes-based antibacterial films/coatings, and the recent advances in the application of nanozymes-based antibacterial films/coatings in food preservation. In the end, the safety issues of nanozymes have also been mentioned. Overall, this review provided new avenues in the field of food preservation and displayed great prospects.

Applications and Prospects of Nanotechnology in Food and Cosmetics Preservation

Cosmetic and food products containing water are prone to contamination during the production, storage, and transit process, leading to product spoilage and degraded organoleptic characteristics. The efficient preservation of food and cosmetics is one of the most important issues the industry is facing today. The use of nanotechnology in food and cosmetics for preservation purposes offers the possibility to boost the activity of antimicrobial agents and/or promote their safer distribution into the end product upon incorporation into packaging or film constructions. In this review, current preservation strategies are discussed and the most recent studies in nanostructures used for preservation purposes are categorized and analyzed in a way that hopefully provides the most promising strategies for both the improvement of product safety and shelf-life extension. Packaging materials are also included since the container plays a major role in the preservation of such products. It is conclusively revealed that most of the applications refer to the nanocomposites as part of the packaging, mainly due to the various possibilities that nanoscience offers to this field. Apart from that, the route of exposure being either skin or the gastrointestinal system involves safety concerns, and since migration of nanoparticles (NPs) from their container can be measured, concerns can be minimized. Conclusion: Nanomaterial science has already made a significant contribution to food and cosmetics preservation, and rapid developments in the last years reinforce the belief that in the future much of the preservation strategies to be pursued by the two industries will be based on NPs and their nanocomposites.

Nano-biotechnology, an applicable approach for sustainable future

Nanotechnology is one of the most emerging fields of research within recent decades and is based upon the exploitation of nano-sized materials (e.g., nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanomembranes, nanowires, nanofibers and so on) in various operational fields. Nanomaterials have multiple advantages, including high stability, target selectivity, and plasticity. Diverse biotic (e.g., Capsid of viruses and algae) and abiotic (e.g., Carbon, silver, gold and etc.) materials can be utilized in the synthesis process of nanomaterials. "Nanobiotechnology" is the combination of nanotechnology and biotechnology disciplines. Nano-based approaches are developed to improve the traditional biotechnological methods and overcome their limitations, such as the side effects caused by conventional therapies. Several studies have reported that nanobiotechnology has remarkably enhanced the efficiency of various techniques, including drug delivery, water and soil remediation, and enzymatic processes. In this review, techniques that benefit the most from nano-biotechnological approaches, are categorized into four major fields: medical, industrial, agricultural, and environmental.

Phytonanotechnology applications in modern agriculture

With the rapidly changing global climate, the agricultural systems are confronted with more unpredictable and harsh environmental conditions than before which lead to compromised food production. Thus, to ensure safer and sustainable crop production, the use of advanced nanotechnological approaches in plants (phytonanotechnology) is of great significance. In this review, we summarize recent advances in phytonanotechnology in agricultural systems that can assist to meet ever-growing demands of food sustainability. The application of phytonanotechnology can change traditional agricultural systems, allowing the target-specific delivery of biomolecules (such as nucleotides and proteins) and cater the organized release of agrochemicals (such as pesticides and fertilizers). An amended comprehension of the communications between crops and nanoparticles (NPs) can improve the production of crops by enhancing tolerance towards environmental stresses and optimizing the utilization of nutrients. Besides, approaches like nanoliposomes, nanoemulsions, edible coatings, and other kinds of NPs offer numerous selections in the postharvest preservation of crops for minimizing food spoilage and thus establishing phtonanotechnology as a sustainable tool to architect modern agricultural practices.

Strong Coupling and Nonextensive Thermodynamics

We propose a Hamiltonian-based approach to the nonextensive thermodynamics of small systems, where small is a relative term comparing the size of the system to the size of the effective interaction region around it. We show that the effective Hamiltonian approach gives easy accessibility to the thermodynamic properties of systems strongly coupled to their surroundings. The theory does not rely on the classical concept of dividing surface to characterize the system’s interaction with the environment. Instead, it defines an effective interaction region over which a system exchanges extensive quantities with its surroundings, easily producing laws recently shown to be valid at the nanoscale.