Chemistries at Nanoscale Applied to Agro-Food Sciences

The global population growth is expected to exceed 10 billion by 2050, which will require a 50% increase in agro-food production to sustain the global food supply chain. As a final product, food reaches consumers via a sequential process involving production, processing, packaging, safe storage and timely transport. Keeping pace with global demand while managing overuse of agrochemicals, minimizing environmental and health risks, reducing food loss and ensuring timely quality assessment of food has emerged as a serious concern. In this context, the role of chemistry in the agro-food sector is significant for increasing the food production/yields, enabling rapid processing and quality control, and providing effective, i.e., adoptable and affordable packaging. Considerable efforts are now focused on exploring agro-food related chemistries at the nanoscale to design and develop nano-agrochemicals, nanobionics, nanocatalysts, nano-sensors, nanoingredients and nano-food processing to introduce novel functionalities to food products. The objective of this Research Topic (RT) is to provide a critical and balanced overview of nanochemistry applications involved in different sectors of the agro-food industry and how they can support both current and future food systems. This RT mainly centers around two key areas: (1) understanding the role of nanochemistry in addressing various long-standing agro-food challenges and (2) investigating the interactions of nanomaterials with agro-food components at the interfaces among crops, food products, and the surrounding environment, to achieve the desired effects. Additionally, the RT will focus on advances in material science aimed at reducing nanotoxicity and improving the efficacy of nanomaterials in agro-food applications. These molecular-level chemical applications in the agro-food sector hold great promise for transforming this sector and provide opportunities to tackle the current and future global food security challenges. A collective approach is imperative to successfully fill the knowledge gap between chemistry, materials sciences, engineering, and computational studies to explore above-mentioned nanoscale chemistries in the agro-food sector. This Research Topic invites both original research and review articles in the area of nanochemistry applications in the agro-food sector. Key focus areas include nanopesticides, nanofertilizers, nanobionics, nanosensors, nanocatalysts, nano-based gene and nutrient delivery, nano-food processing for imparting novel functionalities to food products, and nanocomposites to extend the shelf life of packaged foods. These innovations have the potential to significantly advance the agro-food sector and provide essential opportunities to tackle current and future challenges to global food security. Topic editors: Tarun Belwal, Baojun Xu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/72431/chemistries-at-nanoscale-applied-to-agro-food-sciences