The interest in using natural antimicrobials instead of chemical preservatives in food products has been increasing in recent years. In regard to this, essential oils—natural and liquid secondary plant metabolites—are gaining importance for their use in the protection of foods, since they are accepted as safe and healthy. Although research studies indicate that the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of essential oils (EOs) are more common compared to other biological activities, specific concerns have led scientists to investigate the areas that are still in need of research. To the best of our knowledge, there is no review paper in which antifungal and especially antimycotoxigenic effects are compiled. Further, the low stability of essential oils under environmental conditions such as temperature and light has forced scientists to develop and use recent approaches such as encapsulation, coating, use in edible films, etc. This review provides an overview of the current literature on essential oils mainly on antifungal and antimycotoxigenic but also their antibacterial and antioxidant activities. Additionally, the recent applications of EOs including encapsulation, edible coatings, and active packaging are outlined.

Fungi-induced postharvest diseases are the leading causes of food loss and waste. In this context, fruit decay can be directly attributed to phytopathogenic and/or mycotoxin-producing fungi. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals aim to end hunger by 2030 by improving food security, sustainable agriculture, and food production systems. Antagonistic yeasts are one of the methods presented to achieve these goals. Unlike physical and chemical methods, harnessing antagonistic yeasts as a biological method controls the decay caused by fungi and adsorbs and/or degrades mycotoxins sustainably. Therefore, antagonistic yeasts and their antifungal mechanisms have gained importance. Additionally, mycotoxins' biodetoxification is carried out due to the occurrence of mycotoxin-producing fungal species in fruits. Combinations with processes and agents have been investigated to increase antagonistic yeasts' efficiency. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive summary of studies on preventing phytopathogenic and mycotoxigenic fungi and their mycotoxins in fruits, as well as biocontrolling and biodetoxification mechanisms.

This review focuses on the potential utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to deepen our understanding of probiotics, their mode of action, and technological characteristics such as survival. To that end, this review provides an overview of the current knowledge on probiotics as well as next-generation probiotics. AI-aided omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, offer new insights into the genetic and functional properties of probiotics. Furthermore, AI can be used to elucidate key probiotic activities such as microbiota modulation, metabolite production, and immune system interactions to enable an improved understanding of their health impacts. Additionally, AI technologies facilitate precision in identifying probiotic health impacts, including their role in gut health, anticancer activity, and antiaging effects. Beyond health applications, AI can expand the technological use of probiotics, optimizing storage survival and broadening biotechnological approaches. In this context, this review addresses how AI-driven approaches can be facilitated by strengthening the evaluation of probiotic characteristics, explaining their mechanisms of action, and enhancing their technological applications. Moreover, the potential of AI to enhance the precision of probiotic health impact assessments and optimize industrial applications is highlighted, concluding with future perspectives on the transformative role of AI in probiotic research.

Orange is one of the primary fruits processed into juice and other products worldwide, leading to a vast amount of waste accumulation. Such waste has been considered as an attractive candidate for upcycling to obtain bioactive components remaining. The present study investigated the extraction of essential oil (EO), flavonoids, and pectin from industrial orange waste with a holistic approach. To maximize EO yield and d-limonene concentration, hydrodistillation (HD) conditions were selected to be 5.5 mL water/g solid for 180 min. Remaining solids were further used for flavonoid extraction where conventional solvent, sequential ultrasound + solvent, and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UE) were applied. UE applied for 50 min with 120 mL solvent/g solid yielded the highest total phenolic (TPCs) and total flavonoid contents (TFCs), antioxidant capacity, and hesperidin and neohesperidin concentrations. In terms of TPC, TFC, antioxidant capacity, and antibacterial activity, both EO and flavonoid fractions demonstrated moderate to high bioactivity. At the final step, ethanol precipitation was applied to obtain the pectin that was solubilized in hot water during HD and it was characterized by Fourier transform infrared, degree of esterification, and galacturonic acid content. Practical application: to ensure utilization in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries, this study presents a combined method to obtain several value-added compounds from industrial orange waste. Bioactive EO and flavonoids obtained could have applications in functional food, supplements, or cosmetic formulations, whereas extracted pectin can be used in many formulated foods and drugs.

Mold growth, especially Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp., deteriorates the quality of bakery products. Essential oils (EOs) have been categorized as good natural antimicrobials. Hereby, this study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of six EOs, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, origanum, and clove, and their volatile compounds against fungal strains isolated from bread: Penicillium carneum DDS4, Aspergillus flavus DDS6, and Aspergillus niger DDS7 by disc diffusion and disc volatilization methods, respectively. Among EOs, cumin, cinnamon, origanum, and clove were found to be effective against fungal strains, and their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined. The observed lowest MIC value of EOs was obtained at 1000 μg/mL concentration, and the lowest MFC value was obtained from the results of clove at a concentration of 1000 μg/mL. Based on the MIC and MFC values, clove and cinnamon EOs were found to be more effective at lower concentrations. Electrospun nanofiber films of clove and cinnamon were produced with 6% poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), 2% β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), and 2% EO to overcome the unfavorable sensory impact of EOs on food products. The inhibitory activity of cinnamon EO film (2.64-2.51 log(CFU/mg)) was considerably lower than clove EO film (3.18-3.24 log(CFU/mg)) against P. carneum DDS4 and A. niger DDS7. Furthermore, these nanofiber films prevented fungal growth on bread samples visibly and were shown to be an alternative application for active food packaging.