Plant-based biopolymers for the encapsulation of food antimicrobials: Current advances and challenges

Food antimicrobials are essential to curb spoilage and pathogens, but many antimicrobials, particularly natural ones, suffer from poor solubility, instability, and uncontrolled migration in food matrices. Plant-based biopolymer encapsulation offers an emerging and sustainable solution, providing protection and controlled release of these sensitive compounds. This review synthesizes recent advances on plant-derived polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids as edible encapsulation carriers for food antimicrobials. We discuss sources, structures, and techno-functional properties, encapsulation efficiency, and release behavior, with emphasis on release mechanisms/kinetic modeling and in situ performance in real foods. We critically appraise current limitations, mechanical weakness, and moisture/oxygen permeability of many plant-derived matrices; batch-to-batch variability of botanical polymers, and compatibility issues with hydrophobic actives, together with promising solutions: chemical/enzymatic/physical modifications, hybrid and nanocomposite systems, and formulation tactics (e.g., complex coacervation, Pickering stabilization, and multilayer coatings). We also outline emerging computational approaches (model-based design, AI-assisted optimization) and highlight the need for pilot-scale validation, standardized testing, and clearer regulatory pathways. Overall, plant-based biopolymers constitute a versatile and eco-friendly platform for antimicrobial delivery and active packaging, but future progress requires resolving key engineering and scale-up challenges, including reproducible raw-material sourcing, high-solids continuous processing of viscous biopolymer systems, uniform micro/nanostructure formation at industrial throughput, and integration of encapsulation steps into existing food-packaging lines. • Plant-based biopolymers are established as sustainable carriers for food antimicrobials. • Structure-function links governing encapsulation and release are critically analyzed. • Engineering levers enabling controlled release in real foods are systematically assessed. • In vitro release kinetics are connected to in situ antimicrobial efficacy in foods. • Key scale-up, standardization, and regulatory challenges are identified and discussed.