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Nanocelluloses review: Preparation, biological properties, safety, and applications in the food field

Food Frontiers 2023 14 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 40 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Hong He, Hui Teng, Fengping An, Yiwei Wang, Renhui Qiu, Lei Chen, Hongbo Song

Summary

This review examined nanocelluloses — including cellulose nanofibrils, nanocrystals, and bacterial cellulose — as sustainable food ingredients and packaging materials, highlighting their use as edible coatings, emulsion stabilizers, fat substitutes, and prebiotics while noting that safety assessments and regulatory frameworks still require development.

Abstract Functional diet and food safety requirements, as well as reducing the consumption of nonrenewable resources and environmental pollution are the important development themes on food processing. The development and application of edible nanocelluloses (NCs) is an urgent need in the current food field. NCs are divided into three types, including cellulose nanofibrils, and cellulose nanocrystals from natural fibers, as well as bacterial cellulose synthesized by bacteria. In this review, recent developments in surface modification, biological properties, safety issues, and their applications in the food industry were highlighted. NCs have application limits due to native hydrophilicity, surface modification strengthens their hydrophobicity and stability in the oil phase. NCs exhibit excellent physicochemical properties and successfully be used as edible coatings, emulsion stabilizers, and functional food ingredients. In particular, NCs and modified NCs can be used as low‐calorie fat substitutes and prebiotics for improving gut microbiota. However, the biological properties and safety assessments still require more attention, as well as establishing the regulations for food applications.

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