Emerging Energy-Efficient Technologies for Food Preservation, Safety Enhancement and Carbon Footprint Reduction

Emerging energy- efficient unit operations are fundamental and essential for extending shelf-life, preservation of nutritional quality and ensuring microbial safety but also re-ducing the environmental footprint and achieving the one Health approach. The aim of this review is to present recent advancements in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies powered by solar, wind, biomass, and hybrid energy sources and their role in sustainable food industry practices. A holistic approach to Sustainable Food Systems and a Critical Strategy to Enhance Sustainable Agriculture and food will be thoroughly dis-cussed. Case studies of energy efficiency in the meat, dairy and fruit and vegetable sector will be outlined. Focus will also be given on the revolutionization of Post-Harvest Pack-aging as an energy-Efficient Approach for Fresh Produce Preservation Focusing on Sus-tainable Packaging Solutions. Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Food Processing Tech-niques for Enhanced Food Safety, Quality, and Security will also be described briefly. Fi-nally, the challenges in Implementation of Policy Frameworks and Regulations will be discussed and future Horizons with Leveraging Energy-Efficient Technologies for a Sus-tainable Food Industry will be drawn.