Innovative Nonthermal Preservation and Sustainable Packaging for High-Quality Foods

Food preservation is undergoing a profound transformation as the food industry seeks technologies that maintain quality while reducing energy consumption, food loss, and environmental impact. Conventional thermal processing remains effective for ensuring safety, but often compromises nutritional value, texture, flavor, and other quality attributes. In response, nonthermal preservation technologies, advanced freezing approaches, and sustainable packaging systems have emerged as complementary strategies capable of extending shelf life while preserving fresh-like characteristics. Simultaneously, the development of biodegradable, edible, and active packaging materials offers new opportunities to enhance product stability and reduce dependence on conventional plastics. Integrating innovative preservation technologies with sustainable packaging represents an important step toward resilient food systems that meet consumer expectations for minimally processed, safe, and environmentally responsible foods. Although considerable progress has been achieved in individual preservation technologies, research remains fragmented across processing methods, freezing technologies, and packaging materials. Many studies evaluate single interventions without considering the synergistic interactions between preservation treatments and packaging systems throughout storage and distribution. Furthermore, limited attention has been given to translating laboratory findings into scalable, sustainable industrial applications that simultaneously optimize food quality, safety, shelf life, and environmental performance.This Research Topic aims to bring together multidisciplinary studies that bridge these research areas by exploring integrated preservation strategies combining nonthermal technologies, innovative freezing techniques, and functional packaging materials. We welcome contributions addressing mechanistic understanding, process optimization, material development, mathematical modeling, quality evaluation, shelf-life prediction, life-cycle sustainability, and industrial implementation. By integrating engineering, materials science, microbiology, food chemistry, and sustainability assessment, this collection seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of next-generation preservation strategies supporting more sustainable food systems.This Research Topic welcomes original studies and reviews covering innovative technologies that improve food preservation while supporting sustainability and minimizing quality deterioration.Topics include:- Nonthermal food preservation technologies (cold plasma, pulsed electric fields, high-pressure processing, ultrasound, UV, irradiation, ozone)- Advanced freezing and thawing technologies- Cryoprotectants and ice recrystallization control- Edible, biodegradable, active and intelligent packaging- Biopolymer-based films and coatings- Antimicrobial and antioxidant packaging systems- Integration of preservation technologies with packaging- Shelf-life extension and predictive modeling- Food quality, safety and nutritional retention- Sustainable processing and circular economy approaches- Industrial applications and scale-up- Consumer acceptance and regulatory considerationsManuscript Types: Original Research, Review, Mini Review, Systematic Review, Perspective, Brief Research Report, Data Report Topic editors: Elena Velickova, Tatiana Koutchma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84029/innovative-nonthermal-preservation-and-sustainable-packaging-for-high-quality-foods