The increasing demands for foods with fresh‐like characteristics, lower synthetic additive and preservative contents, and low environmental footprint, but still safe to consume, have guided researchers and industries toward the development of milder processing technologies and more eco‐friendly packaging solutions. As sustainability acquires an increasingly critical relevance in food packaging, bio‐based and/or biodegradable materials stand out as suitable alternatives to their synthetic counterparts. In this context, the use of nanoemulsions has represented a step forward for improving the performance of sustainable food packaging devices, especially for the successful incorporation of new compounds and functionalities into conventional films and coatings. This class of emulsions, featuring unique optical stability and rheological properties, has been developed to protect, encapsulate, and deliver hydrophobic bioactive and functional compounds, including natural preservatives (such as essential oils from plants), nutraceuticals, vitamins, colors, and flavors. This article presents the surfactants (including naturally occurring proteins and carbohydrates), dispersants, and oil‐soluble functional compounds used for designing food‐grade nanoemulsions intended for packaging applications. The improved kinetic stability, bioavailability, and optical transparency of nanoemulsions over conventional emulsions are discussed considering theoretical concepts and real experiments. Bottom‐up and top‐down approaches of nanoemulsion fabrication are described, including high‐energy (such as high‐pressure homogenizers, microfluidics, ultrasound, and high‐speed devices) and low‐energy methods (for instance, phase inversion and spontaneous emulsification). Finally, incorporation of nanoemulsions in biopolymer matrixes intended for food packaging applications is also addressed, considering current characterization techniques as well as their potential antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens.

Quantitative analysis of carotenoids has been extensively reported using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and chromatography, instrumental techniques that require complex extraction protocols with organic solvents. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a potential alternative for simplifying the analysis of food constituents. In this work, the application of FTIR with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) was evaluated for the determination of total carotenoid content (TCC) in Cucurbita spp. samples. Sixty-three samples, belonging to different cultivars of butternut squash (C. moschata) and pumpkin (C. maxima), were selected and analyzed with FTIR- ATR (attenuated total reflectance). Three different preparation protocols for samples were followed: homogenization (A), freeze-drying (B), and solvent extraction (C). The recorded spectra were used to develop regression models by Partial Least Squares (PLS), using data from TCC, determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The PLS regression model obtained with the FTIR data from the freeze-dried samples, using the spectral range 920–3000 cm⁻¹, had the best figures of merit (R²_CAL of 0.95, R²_PRED of 0.93 and RPD of 3.78), being reliable for future application in agriculture. This approach for carotenoid determination in pumpkin and squash avoids the use of organic solvents. Moreover, these results are a rationale for further exploring this technique for the assessment of specific carotenoids in food matrices.