Faba beans are emerging as sustainable quality plant protein sources, with the potential to help meet the growing global demand for more nutritious and healthy foods. The faba bean, in addition to its high protein content and well-balanced amino acid profile, contains bioactive constituents with health-enhancing properties, including bioactive peptides, phenolic compounds, GABA, and L-DOPA. Faba bean peptides released after gastrointestinal digestion have shown antioxidant, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, cholesterol-lowering, and anti-inflammatory effects, indicating a strong potential for this legume crop to be used as a functional food to help face the increasing incidences of non-communicable diseases. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current body of knowledge on the nutritional and biofunctional qualities of faba beans, with a particular focus on protein-derived bioactive peptides and how they are affected by food processing. It further covers the adverse health effects of faba beans associated with the presence of anti-nutrients and potential allergens, and it outlines research gaps and needs.

Synthetic preservatives are widely used by the food industry to control the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms and to inhibit the process of lipid oxidation extending the shelf-life, quality and safety of food products. However, consumer's preference for natural food additives and concern regarding the safety of synthetic preservatives prompted the food industry to look for natural alternatives. Natural antimicrobials, including plant extracts and their essential oils, enzymes, peptides, bacteriocins, bacteriophages, and fermented ingredients have all been shown to have the potential for use as alternatives to chemical antimicrobials. Some spices, herbs and other plant extracts were also reported to be strong antioxidants. The antimicrobial/antioxidant activities of some plant extracts and/or their essential oils are mainly due to the presence of some major bioactive compounds, including phenolic acids, terpenes, aldehydes, and flavonoids. The proposed mechanisms of action of these natural preservatives are reported. An overview of the research done on the direct incorporation of natural preservatives agents into meat and poultry products as well as fruit and vegetables to extend their shelf-life is presented. The development of edible packaging materials containing natural preservatives is growing and their applications in selected food products are also presented in this review.

The unequivocal economical and social values of bread as a staple food commodity lead to constant interests in optimizing its postproduction quality and extending its shelf life, which is related to the maintenance and enhancement of flavors and textural properties, and finally, to the delay of microbial spoilage. The latter has been the subject of a multitude of studies and reviews, in which the different approaches and views were discussed. However, variations in bread freshness, flavor, and textural quality are still of concerns for the bread making industry, in conjunction with the expectation from consumers for bread products with high‐quality attributes and free of synthetic ingredients that satisfy their pleasure and their sustainable lifestyle. This review mainly focuses on the quality profiles of bread, including flavor, rheological, textural, and sensorial aspects; on the modalities to assess them; as well as on the conventional and emerging approaches developed so far over the past decades. The applications of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and enzymes as bioprotective technologies are examined and discussed, along with active packaging and novel processing technologies for either the maintenance or improvement of bread qualities during storage.