The global food security challenge is straightforward and by 2050, about 9 billion people are to be fed. The demand for food will
be 60% greater than it is today. The United Nations has set “Zero Hunger” as the second of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) for 2030. This goal aims to end hunger globally, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
[1, 2]. To achieve these goals, it is vital to explore the advancement in food science and technology. The current Industry 4.0,
which is also called a “smart industry”, aims to integrate cyber and physical systems to minimize waste and maximize productivity.
Therefore, food science and technology can be identified as key components in Industry 4.0 to overcome the food security issue.
There is a great interest in how conventional food science and technologies can be part of the smart industries, leading to less waste
generation while maximizing productivity [3]. This can be done through optimizing the processes and creating a better flow of the
processes to allow automation.
The extraction and recovery of functional food compounds can be attained by various methods. Many of these methods are
adapted stably in industries, however, these processes can be further improved and improvised in order to create a system that is more
efficient and sustainable. This will involve the consideration of factors that affects the cost of operation, the complexity of feedstock,
demand for high-quality products and the potential yield of final products [4]. There are also the possibilities of integrating automation
into the food processing industry, where this will involve proper planning and management of the production system to ensure smooth
automated processing [5]. These advancements utilizing the novel processes and automation processes are part of the uprising Industrial
Revolution 4.0 that is being implemented across the industries. All these actions may not be completed within a short period, but
progressively, the gradual adoption and advocacy of sustainable strategies in food production will ultimately shape an automation
food production line.
The aim of this thematic issue is to assemble the ground-breaking knowledge in food science and technology in order to improve
the current food industrial processes. From the issue, there are reports on integrated processes that contribute to better recovery and
extraction of products from raw materials. One study investigated the effects of three types of methods on the quality of organoleptic
attributes from red fruit juices, these techniques are thermosonication, sonication and mild heating, which presents a more rapid and
effective method to preserve the quality of the final products [6]. Another study focused on the preparation of fresh cheese using enzymes.
Wrightia tinctoria Proteases were used to make cheese and the produced cheese products were analysed [7]. The use of biological
processes to enhance food production will contribute to a cost effective method that is environmentally friendly. There is also a
study on the use of microwave assisted extraction to recover Andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata [8]. An optimization
study was carried out to obtain the most suitable conditions for maximal production. The advanced extraction techniques for bioactive
compounds from papaya fruits are also reviewed and potential ideas for creating more sustainable extraction systems are discussed in
a review for this thematic issue [9]. These works showed the developments of current technologies and propose new ideas on how we
can transform conventional practices to newer and more efficient technologies for nutritional food production.
