Animal-derived foods, including meat, aquatic products, dairy products, and eggs, constitute an important source of nutrition for humans. Traditional processing methods for animal-derived foods predominantly rely on thermal treatments; however, such approaches can lead to losses in nutritional components, texture, and flavour. Cold plasma technology, an emerging non-thermal processing technique, enables the treatment of animal-derived foods at low temperatures. This method effectively mitigates heat-sensitive losses of nutrients and textural properties while ensuring food safety. Consequently, it has garnered significant research interest in recent years regarding the processing and utilisation of animal-derived foods. This paper systematically reviews the research progress in applying cold plasma technology to animal-derived foods. The primary generation modes and operational mechanisms of cold plasma are initially reviewed. Subsequently, its characteristic effects within animal-derived food matrices—specifically microbial inactivation, textural modification, and alterations in nutritional components—are outlined. Finally, the limitations of current cold plasma technologies and potential future research directions are summarised. This review aims to provide a scientific reference for applying cold plasma technology to quality control and functional enhancement in the production and processing of animal-derived foods, whilst offering theoretical support for advancing its standardisation and industrial implementation.

Longan is one of the most valuable subtropical fruits in Southeast Asian regions. This fruit can also play an important role in the blood metabolism for neuropathic pain and swelling. Many studies have focused on the functional activity of longan polysaccharides (LP) in recent years. However, it is still unclear on the structural characteristics, as well as the absorption and distribution in vivo of LP. In this work, liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were employed to investigate the structure of LP. The results showed that the LP consisted of the glucose (Glc), fructose (Fru), arabinose (Ara), galactose (Gal), galacturonic acid (GalA), xylose (Xyl), mannose (Man) and rhamnose (Rha) with the molar ratios of 28.94%, 27.63%, 19.13%, 8.01%, 6.71%, 5.32%, 2.40%, and 1.85%, respectively. The Two-dimensional (2D) NMR spectra of HSQC, COSY, and HMBC revealed that the LP shared the following chemical shifts: δ, 5.00/101.59, 4.55/97.40, 5.13/100.04, 4.47/96.11, 3.62/63.56, and 5.15/109.17, respectively. Moreover, these peaks were attributed to the H-1/C-1 signals of the A-F sugar residues. Ultimately, the LP was determined as a heteropolysaccharide with 1,6)-D-Fruf-(2→5)-L-Araf-(1→4)-D-Glcp-(1→3,6)-Glcp-(1→6)-D-Galp-(1→ as the main chain. The microstructure of the LP was lamellar and stacked with a relatively smooth surface. There was the broad absorption peak near 3 445-3 440 cm⁻¹, which was attributed to O-H stretching vibrations. The broad absorption peak near 2 950-2 945 cm⁻¹ was attributed to C-H stretching vibrations. The peaks at 1 623.11 and 1 400.31 cm⁻¹ were attributed to the carboxylate ion (COO⁻). The bonds at 1 380.43 and 1 360.52 cm⁻¹ corresponded to C-O bending. The hump around 1 200-1 000 cm⁻¹ confirmed the presence of a furanose sugar. The absorption at 1 078.13 cm⁻¹ was related to the C-O-C stretching vibrations, while the absorption peaks around 938-842 cm⁻¹ indicated the simultaneous presence of β and α configurations. In addition, the characteristic peaks at 1 660 cm⁻¹ and 1 580 cm^-1 were found in the FTIR spectrum of LP-Cy5.5, which belonged to the N-H bending vibrational bands of amide I and amide II, respectively. Meanwhile, the signals at 6.5-8.0 ppm belonged to the benzene ring of Cy5.5, compared with the 1H NMR of LP. As such, the successful synthesis of LP-Cy5.5 was realized after characterization. In addition, the LP with the near-infrared fluorescent dye Cy5.5 was selected as a fluorescent marker to assess the digestion and distribution of LP in mice. In vitro intestinal imaging revealed that there were fluorescent signals in all intestinal segments at the early stage. The fluorescence signal of LP-Cy5.5 was mainly distributed in the abdomen of mice. Particularly, the strong fluorescent signals of the LP-Cy5.5 were observed in the stomach, small intestine, cecum, and colon during 1-4 h of digestion, and then gradually disappeared afterward. It indicated that the LP was partially absorbed by the small intestine and then entered the large intestine, where it was utilized by the intestinal microbes. This finding can also provide a fundamental basis for the development of functional foods containing longan polysaccharides. Meanwhile, it is of great significance to obtain the value-added and efficient utilization of resources in order to promote the sustainable longan industry.

Intellectual development is a critical aspect of human growth. While a variety of factors contribute to intellectual development, nutritional interventions have emerged as a feasible approach to promoting intellectual development. However, a knowledge gap remains in consolidating the latest findings that connect nutritional interventions with the promotion of intellectual development. Thus, in this review a bibliometric analysis of research was conducted on the influence of nutritional interventions on intellectual development from 2002 to April 2025. It examined the methodologies employed in this field, evaluated the impact of various nutrients on cognitive development, elucidated the mechanisms by which nutritional interventions affect cognitive development, and forecasts future research trends in this domain. The results may steer the exploration of novel nutrient factors for enhancing functional intelligence, as well as provide a theoretical basis for further in-depth studies on the mechanisms underlying intellectual development.

Sono/photodynamic treatment (SPDT) is a new non-thermal sterilization technology derived and developed from photodynamic technology (PDT), which can synergistically inactivate microorganisms. This paper summarizes the mechanism of action, influential factors, and application of sono/photodynamic non-thermal sterilization technology in food processing. Future directions in the development of this sterilization technology and the technical bottlenecks that need to be solved urgently are also discussed, with the aim of providing a basis for developing a green, low-carbon non-thermal sterilization technology for the preservation of health foods.

Resistant starch is not easily digested and absorbed in the small intestine, but it can be utilized by the large intestinal microflora to produce metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, which in turn can regulate the intestinal microfloral balance and bile acid metabolism. Therefore, this article puts forward the “resistant starch-intestinal flora-metabolite” nutrition axis to systematically summarize the mechanism of action by which RS mediates the production of metabolites by regulating the intestinal microflora. It compares the effects of intestinal microbial fermentation on the apparent, crystal and molecular structure of RS, describes the relationship of the structural characteristics of RS with the intestinal community structure, the production of short-chain fatty acids and the excretion of bile acids, and summarizes the mechanism of RS for improving metabolic diseases by regulating the intestinal microflora and intestinal metabolites. Besides, an outlook is given on future studies on the pathways of the interaction among resistant starch, the intestinal microflora and bile acid, and on the mechanism of RS interaction with bile acids and short-chain fatty acids in metabolic diseases.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of steam-exploded Dictyophora indusiata polysaccharide (DIPS) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation of mice. The results showed that DIPS significantly improved colonic shortening by LPS-induced inflammation, and the mRNA expression of Occludin (Occ) and Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in colon tissues was increased 9.86- and 2.69-fold after DIPS intervention, respectively. In addition, DAI scores decreased from 1.15 to 0.74, while the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were also reduced by DIPS intervention. It is remarkable that DIPS modulated the composition of gut microbiota and enhanced the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium, unclassified_o_Oscillospirales and Faecalibaculum. Furthermore, the levels of acetic acid and propionic acid of the gut contents in mice were restored to (0.94 ± 0.24) mg/g and (0.23 ± 0.10) mg/g after the intervention of DIPS, which was 3.03- and 2.56-fold of the LPS group, respectively. In conclusion, DIPS protected against LPS-induced inflammation, which provides new insights into the anti-inflammatory effect of edible fungi polysaccharide.

The core drivers of the modern food industry are meeting consumer demand for tasty and healthy foods. The application of food flavor perception enhancement can help to achieve the goals of salt- and sugar-reduction, without compromising the sensory quality of the original food, and this has attracted increasing research attention. The analysis of bibliometric results from 2002 to 2022 reveals that present flavor perception enhancement strategies (changing ingredient formulations, adding salt/sugar substitutes, emulsion delivery systems) are mainly carry out based on sweetness, saltiness and umami. Emulsion systems is becoming a novel research foci and development trends of international food flavor perception-enhancement research. The structured design of food emulsions, by using interface engineering technology, can effectively control, or enhance the release of flavor substances. Thus, this review systematically summarizes strategies, the application of emulsion systems and the mechanisms of action of food flavor perception-enhancement technologies, based on odor-taste cross-modal interaction (OTCMI), to provide insights into the further structural design and application of emulsion systems in this field.