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Considering the significance of the gut microbiota on human health, there has been ever-growing research and commercial interest in various aspects of probiotic functional foods and drugs. A probiotic food requires cautious consideration in terms of strain selection, appropriate process and storage conditions, cell viability and functionality, and effective delivery at the targeted site. To address these challenges, several technologies have been explored and some of them have been adopted for industrial applicability. Encapsulation of probiotics has been recognized as an effective way to stabilize them in their dried form. By conferring a physical barrier to protect them from adverse conditions, the encapsulation approach renders direct benefits on stability, delivery, and functionality. Various techniques have been explored to encapsulate probiotics, but it is noteworthy that the encapsulation method itself influences surface morphology, viability, and survivability of probiotics. This review focuses on the need to encapsulate probiotics, trends in various encapsulation techniques, current research and challenges in targeted delivery, the market status of encapsulated probiotics, and future directions. Specific focus has been given on various in vitro methods that have been explored to better understand their delivery and performance.

The preservation of foods at low temperatures is a well-established concept. While conventional methods of food freezing rely on the isobaric (constant pressure) approach, they often result in a series of irreversible changes that can significantly hamper the quality of frozen foods. In recent years, taking its roots from the biomedical industry, isochoric (constant volume) freezing is gaining both research and commercial interest as an effective method of food preservation. The focus of this review is to present the state of the art of isochoric freezing of foods, highlighting the underlying mechanisms that make it unique, and understanding its impact on food quality, considering reports published in the past decade. An exclusive section is dedicated to its non-food applications, and this work also provides insights into the costs and economics of the process. Importantly, as this is an emerging area, the review concludes by highlighting the challenges and provides perspectives on the directions for future research.

With the aim of sustainability approaches and production of designer 3D food packages, the present work examined the effect of printability of rice husk fractions of different size reduction methods: milled rice husk (MRH) and mixer ground rice husk (MGRH) with and without the addition of guar gum (GG). Extrusion test was performed for both the rice husk fractions and 3D printing process parameters were optimized for the ‘box’ shaped 3D model. Rheological behavior and physical characteristics were analyzed for all the material supplies. Printability of rice husk was only achieved in MRH + GG as the extrusion test revealed that MRH with GG was only found to be flowable out of the nozzle. Material supply namely MRH, MGRH, MGRH + GG showed shear-thinning behavior but found to be non-extrudable. Optimized conditions of printing were obtained at 2100 mm/min printing speed, 300 rpm motor speed with constant 4 bar pressure. Desired printing with stable layers was observed at a critical nozzle height of 0.2 mm and the flow rate of 0.678 ± 0.003 g/min. Thus, the work demonstrates the conversion of non-printable rice husk to the printable form by the addition of GG into the milled fraction of rice husk which can be further utilized in food packaging thereby reducing the dependency on non-degradable petroleum-based plastics.

The present work examines the printability, biodegradability, water sorption studies, and applicability of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) for developing customized three-dimensional food package casings. Material supply was found to be extrudable by applying 3.2 bar pressure using a 1.28-mm diameter nozzle with the speed of the motor at 240 rpm. The process parameters for printing were optimized at 500 mm/min printing speed, 0.304 ± 0.003 g/min printing rate, and 0.450 mm nozzle height. The printed SCB showed degradation in the soil upon microbial attack. The 3D-printed SCB package casings had a water sorption capacity of more than 0.07 (g of water/g of solids) at above 50% relative humidity. An applicability test was performed for the storage of cake. The moisture content of the packaging increased, and decreased moisture content was observed for the cake, over 9 days. The flexural properties were also examined for 9 days that suggests the use of SCB packaging for low moisture-containing foods. This work explains an alternative approach for the replacement of petroleum-based single-use plastic that causes serious damage to the environment.

The irreversible damages to the environment caused by the use of petroleum-based plastic lead to the consumption of agricultural waste. The sustainable use of agricultural waste for the development of biocomposites gives added value to the biomass. Polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and starch are commonly used biopolymers for the formation of biocomposites. These are potentially utilized in food packaging and civil engineering applications. Techniques like extrusion, injection molding, compression molding, and pultrusion are used in biocomposite formation. The type of technique applied for the biocomposite formation affects the mechanical properties of the biocomposites. Agricultural waste from crops, oils, seeds, and peels of fruits and vegetables even animal feather are widely used in production of biopolymers and biocomposites. The biocomposites obtained from these resources are biodegradable in nature. Thus the chapter focuses on the sustainable use of agricultural waste. The synthesis of different biopolymers and biocomposite formation with their mechanical properties are further described in this chapter.