Artificial intelligence (AI) involves the development of algorithms and computational models that enable machines to process and analyze large amounts of data, identify patterns and relationships, and make predictions or decisions based on that analysis. AI has become increasingly pervasive across a wide range of industries and sectors, with healthcare, finance, transportation, manufacturing, retail, education, and agriculture are a few examples to mention. As AI technology continues to advance, it is expected to have an even greater impact on industries in the future. For instance, AI is being increasingly used in the agri-food sector to improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. It has the potential to revolutionize the agri-food sector in several ways, including but not limited to precision agriculture, crop monitoring, predictive analytics, supply chain optimization, food processing, quality control, personalized nutrition, and food safety. This review emphasizes how recent developments in AI technology have transformed the agri-food sector by improving efficiency, reducing waste, and enhancing food safety and quality, providing particular examples. Furthermore, the challenges, limitations, and future prospects of AI in the field of food and agriculture are summarized.

Dietary components have an important role on the structure and function of host gut microbial communities. Even though, various dietary components, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fibers, and vitamins, have been studied in depth for their effect on gut microbiomes, little attention has been paid regarding the impact of several food antioxidants on the gut microbiome. The long-term exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause microbial dysbiosis which leads to numerous intestinal diseases such as microbiota dysbiosis, intestinal injury, colorectal cancers, enteric infections, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Recently, it has been shown that the food derived antioxidant compounds might protect the host from intestinal oxidative stress via modulating the composition of beneficial microbial species in the gut. The present review summarizes the impact of food antioxidants including antioxidant vitamins, dietary polyphenols, carotenoids, and bioactive peptides on the structure as well as function of host gut microbial communities. Several in vitro, animal model, and clinical studies indicates that food antioxidants might modify the host gut microbial communities and their health status. However, still further clarification is needed as to whether changes in certain microbial species caused by food additives may lead to changes in metabolism and immune function.

Curcumin is a phenolic compound derived from turmeric roots (Curcuma longa L.). This research studied the effects of curcumin extract on the properties of chitosan films. The film characteristics measured included mechanical properties, visual aspects, color parameters, light transmission, moisture content, water solubility, water vapor permeability, infrared spectroscopy, and antioxidant activity. The results suggest that adding curcumin to chitosan-based films increases yellowness and light barriers. Infrared spectroscopy analysis showed interactions between the phenolic compounds of the extract and the chitosan, which may have improved the mechanical properties and reduced the moisture content, water solubility, and water vapor permeability of the films. The antioxidant activity of the films increased with increasing concentrations of the curcumin extract. This study shows the potential benefits of incorporating curcumin extract into chitosan films used as active packaging.

This research aimed to synthesize carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCH) from different molecular weights of chitosan including low MW (L, 50–190 kDa), medium MW (M, 210–300 kDa) and high MW (H, 310–375 kDa) on the antioxidant and moisturizing properties. The L-CMCH, M-CMCH and H-CMCH improved the water solubility by about 96%, 90% and 89%, respectively when compared to native chitosan. Higher MW resulted in more viscous of CMCH. For antioxidant properties, IC₅₀ values of DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity for L-CMCH were 1.70 and 1.37 mg/mL, respectively. The L-CMCH had higher antioxidant properties by DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assay and FRAP. The moisturizing properties on pig skin using a Corneometer^® showed that 0.5% H-CMCH significantly presented (p ≤ 0.05) greater moisturizing effect than that of untreated-skin, distilled water, propylene glycol and pure chitosan from three molecular weights.