Search Results (38)

As awareness of environmental issues deepens and the demand for sustainability grows among societies, businesses, and consumers, minimizing the environmental impact of food packaging has become increasingly important. Bioplastics offer a promising solution due to their use of renewable resources (such as plants), their biodegradability, and their ability to retain the protective properties of traditional plastics. This review discusses recent advancements and trends in sustainable food packaging, emphasizing the role of bioplastics. Several typical types of bioplastics are introduced, along with an analysis of their advantages and limitations. Furthermore, this study investigates consumers’ attitudes toward bioplastic food packaging, emphasizing their perceptions of its sustainability and practical use. The findings reveal that consumers generally hold a positive attitude toward bioplastics, particularly appreciating their biodegradable and compostable properties. However, their expectations are often overly high, as they believe bioplastics must meet two key criteria: being made from renewable raw materials and being fully biodegradable or compostable. Additionally, most consumers lack the knowledge or ability to dispose of bioplastic waste properly. This issue highlights two critical areas for policymakers: aligning consumer expectations with realistic sustainability goals and educating the public on correct waste sorting and disposal practices. Full article

Food safety culture (FSC) has transitioned from a narrow compliance-based concept to a comprehensive organisational value that is essential for ensuring food safety. This review explores the pivotal roles of leadership, organisational commitment, and cultural diversity in shaping an effective FSC. It highlights how leadership style, particularly transformational leadership, can enhance employee engagement and foster a proactive safety culture. Additionally, the impact of national and organisational cultures on FSC is analysed, emphasising the challenges posed by a multicultural workforce in standardising food safety practices. This article also provides a comparative analysis of FSC across various sectors, such as meat and dairy processing, identifying sector-specific challenges and best practices. In particular, high-risk sectors tend to exhibit a stronger FSC due to regulatory pressure, while other sectors struggle with issues like communication and employee ownership. The importance of integrating behavioural training with cultural considerations is underscored as a key strategy for sustaining a positive FSC. For maintaining a strong FSC, tailored approaches, which account for cultural and operational differences, are necessary for improving food safety outcomes. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights for industry professionals and policymakers, offering a foundation for future research and the development of more effective food safety management practices. Full article

Distiller’s spent grain (DSG) is a byproduct generated in large quantities during the mashing process, particularly in the production of alcoholic beverages such as whiskey. This study aimed to characterize DSG from nine different distilleries as a potential biorefinery feedstock for the synthesis of high-value bioproducts. Key components, including protein (12.38–26.32%), cellulose (11.75–32.75%), hemicellulose (6.97–19.47%), lignin (8.44–15.71%), and total phenolics (1.42 to 3.97 mg GAE/g), were analyzed to evaluate their variability and suitability for industrial applications. The results reveal that DSG composition varies significantly across distilleries due to differences in processing techniques, even though the starting grain composition had minimal influence. Statistical analysis highlighted the variability of water- and ethanol-soluble extractives (17.34–31.77%) and their potential impact on product consistency. This compositional variability highlights the importance of understanding DSG’s structural properties to optimize its use as a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock. This study emphasizes the potential for utilizing DSG in the production of nanocellulose, bioplastics, phenolic resins, and other sustainable materials, thereby contributing to the circular economy. By linking compositional insights to specific applications, this work establishes a foundation for tailored utilization of DSG in biopolymer production and chemical synthesis. These findings provide valuable insights for biorefinery operations, addressing both sustainability challenges and the economic potential of industrial byproducts. Full article

Deep semi-supervised learning (DSSL) is a machine learning paradigm that blends supervised and unsupervised learning techniques to improve the performance of various models in computer vision tasks. Medical image classification plays a crucial role in disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and patient care. However, obtaining labeled medical image data is often expensive and time-consuming for medical practitioners, leading to limited labeled datasets. DSSL techniques aim to address this challenge, particularly in various medical image tasks, to improve model generalization and performance. DSSL models leverage both the labeled information, which provides explicit supervision, and the unlabeled data, which can provide additional information about the underlying data distribution. That offers a practical solution to resource-intensive demands of data annotation, and enhances the model’s ability to generalize across diverse and previously unseen data landscapes. The present study provides a critical review of various DSSL approaches and their effectiveness and challenges in enhancing medical image classification tasks. The study categorized DSSL techniques into six classes: consistency regularization method, deep adversarial method, pseudo-learning method, graph-based method, multi-label method, and hybrid method. Further, a comparative analysis of performance for six considered methods is conducted using existing studies. The referenced studies have employed metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, AUC-ROC, and F1 score to evaluate the performance of DSSL methods on different medical image datasets. Additionally, challenges of the datasets, such as heterogeneity, limited labeled data, and model interpretability, were discussed and highlighted in the context of DSSL for medical image classification. The current review provides future directions and considerations to researchers to further address the challenges and take full advantage of these methods in clinical practices. Full article

With growing concern over environmental sustainability and dwindling fossil resources, it is crucial to prioritise the development of alternative feedstocks to replace fossil resources. Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are an environmental burden with an estimated six million tons being generated on a wet basis annually, globally. SCGs are rich in cellulose, lignin, protein, lipids, polyphenols and other bioactive compounds which are important raw materials for use in industries including pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Furthermore, the energy sector has the potential to capitalize on the high calorific value of SCGs for biofuel and biogas production, offering a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. SCGs are readily available, abundant, and cheap, however, SCGs are currently underutilized, and a significant amount are dumped into landfills. This review explores the potential of SCGs as a source of a value-added compound through various conversion technologies employed in the valorisation of SCGs into biochar, biofuel, and important chemical building blocks. The state-of-the-art, current knowledge, future research to stimulate the creation of sustainable products, and the challenges and economic feasibility of exploring SCGs in a biorefinery context are presented. Full article

Entomophagy describes the practice of eating insects. Insects are considered extremely nutritious in many countries worldwide. However, there is a lethargic uptake of this practice in Europe where consuming insects and insect-based foodstuffs is often regarded with disgust. Such perceptions and concerns are often due to a lack of exposure to and availability of food-grade insects as a food source and are often driven by neophobia and cultural norms. In recent years, due to accelerating climate change, an urgency to develop alternate safe and sustainable food-sources has emerged. There are currently over 2000 species of insects approved by the World Health Organization as safe to eat and suitable for human consumption. This review article provides an updated overview of the potential of edible insects as a safe, palatable, and sustainable food source. Furthermore, legislation, food safety issues, and the nutritional composition of invertebrates including, but not limited, to crickets (Orthoptera) and mealworms (Coleoptera) are also explored within this review. This article also discusses insect farming methods and the potential upscaling of the industry with regard to future prospects for insects as a sustainable food source. Finally, the topics addressed in this article are areas of potential concern to current and future consumers of edible insects. Full article

In recent years, the increase in the generation of agro-food processing waste, coupled with uncontrolled disposal and inefficient recovery methods, has raised concerns among society, industries, and the research community. This issue is compounded by the accumulation of conventional synthetic packaging. Owing to their significant environmental and economic impacts, the development of sustainable, biocompatible, and biodegradable materials has become an urgent target. In this context, research efforts have been directed toward developing new packaging materials based on renewable sources, such as agro-food waste, contributing to the circular economy concept. However, despite significant advances, novel agro-food-waste-based packaging solutions still largely remain at a laboratory scale. This situation highlights the urgent need for further understanding and thorough investigation into how to upscale these products, thereby promoting engagement, investment, and awareness across various fields. This review aims to discuss the current advances in food packaging development using agro-food waste. It covers the main agro-food wastes and by-products currently recovered for sustainable packaging systems through various approaches, such as the extraction of valuable compounds or waste treatments for incorporation into packaging materials, techniques for their valorization, and recent applications of agro-food waste materials in films and coatings. It also addresses the toxicological and safety approaches, challenges, and future perspectives. After an extensive review, we conclude that current research faces challenges in transitioning novel findings to commercial scale, primarily due to safety factors, high production costs, performance deficits, legislative ambiguities, lack of consumer awareness, and inadequate governmental regulations. Consequently, significant investments in research and development appear to be mandatory in the coming years, aiming for optimized, safe, and cost-effective solutions. Full article

Background: The Sella Turcica is a critical structure from an orthodontic perspective, and its morphological characteristics can help in understanding craniofacial deformities. However, accurately extracting Sella Turcica shapes can be challenging due to the indistinct edges and indefinite boundaries present in X-ray images. This study aimed to develop and validate an automated Sella Morphology Network (SellaMorph-Net), a hybrid deep learning pipeline for segmenting Sella Turcica structure and extracting different morphological types; Methods: The SellaMorph-Net model proposed in this study combined attention-gating and recurrent residual convolutional layers (AGM and RrCL) to enhance the encoder’s abilities. The model’s output was then passed through a squeeze-and-excitation (SE) module to improve the network’s robustness. In addition, dropout layers were added to the end of each convolution block to prevent overfitting. A Zero-shot classifier was employed for multiple classifications, and the model’s output layer used five colour codes to represent different morphological types. The model’s performance was evaluated using various quantitative metrics, such as global accuracy and mean pixel-wise Intersection over Union (IoU) and dice coefficient, based on qualitative results; Results: The study collected 1653 radiographic images and categorised them into four classes based on the predefined shape of Sella Turcica. These classes were further divided into three subgroups based on the complexity of the Sella structures. The proposed SellaMorph-Net model achieved a global accuracy of 97.570, mean pixel-wise IoU scores of 0.7129, and a dice coefficient of 0.7324, significantly outperforming the VGG-19 and InceptionV3 models. The publicly available IEEE ISBI 2015 challenge dataset and our dataset were used to evaluate the test performance between the state-of-the-art and proposed models. The proposed model provided higher testing results, which were 0.7314 IoU and 0.7768 dice for our dataset and 0.7864 IoU and 0.8313 dice for the challenge dataset; Conclusions: The proposed hybrid SellaMorph-Net model provides an accurate and reliable pipeline for detecting morphological types of Sella Turcica using full lateral cephalometric images. Future work will focus on further improvement and utilisation of the developed model as a prognostic tool for predicting anomalies related to Sella structures. Full article

In this review article, we systematically investigated the diverse applications of laser technology within the sphere of food processing, encompassing techniques such as laser ablation, microbial inactivation, state-of-the-art food packaging, and non-destructive testing. With a detailed exploration, we assess the utility of laser ablation for the removal of surface contaminants from foodstuffs, while also noting the potential financial and safety implications of its implementation on an industrial scale. Microbial inactivation by laser shows promise for reducing the microbial load on food surfaces, although concerns have been raised about potential damage to the physio-characteristics of some fruits. Laser-based packaging techniques, such as laser perforation and laser transmission welding, offer eco-friendly alternatives to traditional packaging methods and can extend the shelf life of perishable goods. Despite the limitations, laser technology shows great promise in the food industry and has the potential to revolutionize food processing, packaging, and testing. Future research needs to focus on optimizing laser equipment, addressing limitations, and developing mathematical models to enhance the technology’s uses. Full article

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is a major societal concern, and therefore, there is a significant consumer demand for cosmetics formulated to mitigate the harmful effects of UV radiation. Synthetic sunscreens being formulated to block UV penetration include inorganic metal oxide particles and organic filters. Lately, organic UV-absorbing compounds are manufactured from non-renewable petrochemicals and, as a result, there is a need to develop a sustainable manufacturing process for efficient, high-level production of a naturally occurring group of UV-absorbing compounds, namely mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), for use as a sunscreen additive to skincare products. Currently, the commercial production of MAAs for use in sunscreens is not a viable proposition due to the low yield and the lack of fermentation technology associated with native MAA-producing organisms. This review summarizes the biochemical properties of MAAs, the biosynthetic gene clusters and transcriptional regulations, the associated carbon-flux-driving processes, and the host selection and biosynthetic strategies, with the aim to expand our understanding on engineering suitable cyanobacteria for cost-effective production of natural sunscreens in future practices. Full article

Biopolymer-based packaging materials have become of greater interest to the world due to their biodegradability, renewability, and biocompatibility. In recent years, numerous biopolymers—such as starch, chitosan, carrageenan, polylactic acid, etc.—have been investigated for their potential application in food packaging. Reinforcement agents such as nanofillers and active agents improve the properties of the biopolymers, making them suitable for active and intelligent packaging. Some of the packaging materials, e.g., cellulose, starch, polylactic acid, and polybutylene adipate terephthalate, are currently used in the packaging industry. The trend of using biopolymers in the packaging industry has increased immensely; therefore, many legislations have been approved by various organizations. This review article describes various challenges and possible solutions associated with food packaging materials. It covers a wide range of biopolymers used in food packaging and the limitations of using them in their pure form. Finally, a SWOT analysis is presented for biopolymers, and the future trends are discussed. Biopolymers are eco-friendly, biodegradable, nontoxic, renewable, and biocompatible alternatives to synthetic packaging materials. Research shows that biopolymer-based packaging materials are of great essence in combined form, and further studies are needed for them to be used as an alternative packaging material. Full article

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) has been scientifically proven to cause skin disorders such as sunburn, skin cancer and the symptoms of chronic exposure. Natural sun screening compounds have recently gained tremendous attention from the cosmetic and cosmeceutical sectors for treating skin disorders such as hyperpigmentation and aging. A wide range of natural UV-absorbing compounds have been used to replace or reduce the number of synthetic sunscreen molecules. One of the primary causes of photoaging is DNA damage, mainly caused by UVR. Photoprotection provided by traditional sunscreens is purely preventative and has no efficacy after DNA damage has been initiated. As a result, the quest for DNA-repair mechanisms that block, reverse, or postpone pathologic processes in UV-exposed skin has stimulated anti-photoaging research and methods to increase the effectiveness of traditional sunscreens. This review summarizes many natural compounds from microalgae, lichens, and plants that have demonstrated potential photoprotection effects against UV radiation-induced skin damage. Furthermore, it offers an overview of current breakthroughs in DNA-repair enzymes utilized in sunscreens and their influence on photoaging. Full article

The antimicrobial property is the key feature of active packaging. Biological macromolecules such as tannic and gallic acids are naturally found in plants such as tea, fruits, berries, and grapes. The incorporation of tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) in the biodegradable polymer blend Poly Lactide-Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) was used in this study to assess the potential of active packaging. TA and GA (10 wt%) composite films showed a 65%–66% increase in the UV barrier property. The tensile strength value increased after the incorporation of TA and GA (10 wt%), respectively. Overall, 1.67 and 2.2 log reductions in E. coli and L. monocytogenes growth were observed, respectively, in the presence of TA (10 wt%) composite film. In addition, TA composite film was able to maintain and enhance the quality of cherry tomatoes for up to 20 days of storage at room temperature. For cherry tomatoes packed in PLA-PBAT-TA10 (wt%), TSS decreased by 6.3%, pH was 4.3, and a microbial reduction of 2.70 log CFU/mL was observed. In conclusion, TA composite film had confirmed significant UV blocking properties, surface hydrophobicity, and antibacterial properties, which show its potential as an active packaging film. Full article

Cold plasma (CP) is an effective strategy to alter the limitations of biopolymer materials for food packaging applications. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are known to be sustainable materials with excellent film-forming properties. Bio-based films can be used as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. There are limitations to biopolymer packaging materials such as hydrophobicity, poor barrier, and thermos-mechanical properties. For this reason, biopolymers must be modified to create a packaging material with the desired applicability. CP is an effective method to enhance the functionality and interfacial features of biopolymers. It etches the film surface allowing for better adhesion between various polymer layers while also improving ink printability. CP facilitates adhesion between two or more hydrophobic materials, resulting in significantly better water vapour permeability (WVP) properties. The sputtering of ionic species by CP results in cross-linkage reactions which improve the mechanical properties of films (tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EAB)). Cross-linkage reactions are reported to be responsible for the improved thermal stability of CP-treated biopolymers. CP treatment is known to decrease oxygen permeability (OP) in protein-based biopolymers. CP can also enable the blending of polymers with specific antimicrobial substances to develop active packaging materials. In this review article, we have presented an overview of the recent advancements of CP in the food packaging application. Furthermore, the influence of CP on the properties of packaging materials, and recent advancements in the modification of polymeric food packaging materials have been discussed. Full article