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Foods
Special Issues
Micro and Nanomaterials in Sustainable Food Encapsulation
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Micro and Nanomaterials in Sustainable Food Encapsulation

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Packaging and Preservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2026 | Viewed by 2952

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hongdong Song

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Health Sciences and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Interests: micro and nanomaterials; food protein; nanocarrier; peptide self-assembly; encapsulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yuting Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Public Health, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: natural products; chronic diseases; functional properties of biomolecules

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, micro- and nano-encapsulation technologies have received considerable interest in the field of food. Encapsulation can be defined as the process of entrapping one substance within another substance, thereby producing particles with diameters of nm to mm. This technology can protect sensitive bioactive food ingredients from unfavorable environmental conditions, enhance solubilization, improve taste and odor masking, and enhance the bioavailability of poorly absorbable functional ingredients.

In addition, this technology can improve the retention time of nutrients in food and allow their controlled release at specific times, during food consumption or in the intestinal gut. Due to the growth of the world population and the threat of climate change, it is now vital to develop healthy and sustainable food encapsulation strategies. Natural food macromolecules, including proteins, lipids, starches, polysaccharides and cellulose, are eco-friendly materials that could be utilized in sustainable food encapsulation. In this Special Issue, we wish to collect high-quality papers that focus on the application of food materials such as polysaccharides, starches, proteins and lipids in the encapsulation of food components or the preparation of food packaging materials.

Dr. Hongdong Song
Dr. Yuting Fan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • micro and nanomaterials
  • self-assembly
  • nano-systems
  • nanogels
  • nanoparticles
  • encapsulation and targeted delivery
  • packaging materials
  • food application

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 4437 KB  
Article
Integrated Smart Packaging of Modified Silica/Anthocyanin/Nanocellulose for Preservation and Monitoring
by Yu Ren, Jing Guo, Zehao Zhong, Jinjin Chen, Peng Jin, Yonghua Zheng and Zhengguo Wu
Foods 2025, 14(11), 1888; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14111888 - 26 May 2025
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2621
Abstract
Smart packaging not only has a preservation effect on food, but can also monitor the change of food quality in real time to ensure food safety. In this study, hollow mesoporous silica loaded with cinnamaldehyde was used as the antimicrobial agent, anthocyanin as [...] Read more.
Smart packaging not only has a preservation effect on food, but can also monitor the change of food quality in real time to ensure food safety. In this study, hollow mesoporous silica loaded with cinnamaldehyde was used as the antimicrobial agent, anthocyanin as the color developer, and nanocellulose as the film matrix, to obtain smart packaging with excellent antimicrobial activity and pH-responsive color development (CBF). Modified silica has a good regulatory characteristic on the release of cinnamaldehyde, and the cumulative release rate of cinnamaldehyde in the NH2-HMSN@CA preservative reaches 72% after 7 days. Additionally, the film has good antibacterial properties, with inhibition rates of 82% and 92% against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. In addition, the film has good mechanical properties and water vapor permeability. In terms of pH response, the film shows excellent color rendering and good stability. Therefore, the CBF films can be applied to preservation and real-time monitoring of fruits and vegetables, meat, and other food products, which has great potential for intelligent food packaging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro and Nanomaterials in Sustainable Food Encapsulation)
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Review

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19 pages, 1076 KB  
Review
Multifunctional Metal–Organic Frameworks for Enhancing Food Safety and Quality: A Comprehensive Review
by Weina Jiang, Xue Zhou, Xuezhi Yuan, Liang Zhang, Xue Xiao, Jiangyu Zhu and Weiwei Cheng
Foods 2025, 14(23), 4111; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14234111 (registering DOI) - 30 Nov 2025
Abstract
Food safety and quality are paramount global concerns, with the complexities of the modern supply chain demanding advanced technologies for monitoring, preservation, and decontamination. Conventional methods often fall short due to limitations in speed, sensitivity, cost, and functionality. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a class [...] Read more.
Food safety and quality are paramount global concerns, with the complexities of the modern supply chain demanding advanced technologies for monitoring, preservation, and decontamination. Conventional methods often fall short due to limitations in speed, sensitivity, cost, and functionality. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of crystalline porous materials, have emerged as a highly universal platform to address these challenges, owing to their unprecedented structural tunability, ultrahigh surface areas, and tailorable chemical functionalities. This comprehensive review details the state-of-the-art applications of multifunctional MOFs across the entire spectrum of food safety and quality enhancement. First, the review details the application of MOFs in advanced food analysis, covering their transformative roles as sorbents in sample preparation (e.g., solid-phase extraction and microextraction), as novel stationary phases in chromatography, and as the core components of highly sensitive sensing platforms, including luminescent, colorimetric, electrochemical, and SERS-based sensors for contaminant detection. Subsequently, the role of MOFs in food preservation and packaging is explored, highlighting their use in active packaging systems for ethylene scavenging and controlled antimicrobial release, in intelligent packaging for visual spoilage indication, and as functional fillers for enhancing the barrier properties of packaging materials. Furthermore, the review examines the direct application of MOFs in food processing for the selective adsorptive removal of contaminants from complex food matrices (such as oils and beverages) and as robust, recyclable heterogeneous catalysts. Finally, a critical discussion is presented on the significant challenges that impede widespread adoption. These include concerns regarding biocompatibility and toxicology, issues of long-term stability in complex food matrices, and the hurdles of achieving cost-effective, scalable synthesis. This review not only summarizes recent progress but also provides a forward-looking perspective on the interdisciplinary efforts required to translate these promising nanomaterials from laboratory research into practical, real-world solutions for a safer and higher-quality global food supply. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro and Nanomaterials in Sustainable Food Encapsulation)
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