Enhancing Food Safety and Traceability: The Contribution of Smart Technologies in the Contemporary Food Sector

Ensuring food safety and auditability remains a major global challenge due to rising foodborne illnesses, malpractices, and complex supply chains. Traditional monitoring methods often fail to provide real-time insights, highlighting the need for smart technologies to enhance transparency, efficiency, and resilience. This review explores the role of emerging technologies such as smart sensors, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and digital twins (DT) in strengthening food safety. Using the PRISMA framework, recent advancements were systematically reviewed, focusing on regulatory, consumer, and ethical aspects. Blockchain ensures transparency by creating immutable records, AI enhances surveillance and hazards detection, and DT improves accountability by providing real-time virtual models of food supply chains. Despite their benefits, challenges such as privacy concerns, high implementation costs, and regulatory fragmentation hinder widespread adoption. Overcoming these barriers requires stronger digital infrastructure, global regulatory harmonisation, and policies that support ethical and responsible technology integration. By embracing smart solutions, the food industry can build a safer, more transparent, and resilient system. Governments, industry stakeholders, and researchers must collaborate to bridge technological gaps, mitigate threats, and promote balanced innovation. This review discusses the transformative potential of smart technologies in revolutionising food safety and recordability while addressing associated challenges.