The increasing global attention to food safety, coupled with advanced technologies, has fostered the development of environmentally sustainable processing approaches across the food industry. Recent progress, including photoelectrochemical biosensors for mycotoxin detection [1] and dual-channel 3D-printed electrochemical systems for enzyme-free L-lactic acid detection [2], illustrate the rapid evolution of food analytical technologies. As highly specific biocatalysts, enzymes govern numerous physicochemical reactions in food systems. Enzymes play diverse roles in the progress and establishment of the food sector. These roles include improving textural properties, enhancing flavor, enriching nutritional qualities, reducing the reliance on chemical reactions, and promoting various biochemical and biological processes [3,4]. Free enzymes are inherently unstable under extreme pH/temperature conditions, leading to rapid denaturation and activity loss. Nano/micro-encapsulation (ENCAP) technologies have emerged as promising platforms to promote enzyme resilience and catalytic efficiency under such stresses [5,6]. These systems offer a versatile route to overcoming the intrinsic fragility of free enzymes, paving the way for robust/sustainable biocatalysis in food/biosensing applications [7]. Accordingly, their usage as naturally-occurring biocatalysts remains limited. Fortunately, these major obstacles can be effectively tackled by ENCAP of enzymes within various carriers [8]. Over the past few decades, nanotechnology has deemed as one of the promising research areas to revolutionize human diet and the agri-food area [9]. To date, nanosystems have been modernizing the entire food industry by enabling the development of cutting-edge food materials and facilitating industrial-scale implementation [10].

Currently, the fabrication of functional foods through engineering ENCAP systems has attracted significant attention [[11], [12], [13]]. Almost any bioactives (e.g., enzymes, polyphenols, antioxidants, etc.) that require to be steadily released or protected from the surrounding milieu can be effectively incorporated into specialized ENCAP systems, which safeguard the payload against exposure to light, moisture, oxygen, while enabling their controlled release [14]. Incorporation of nano/microcapsules into food matrices has demonstrated remarkable benefits, including modulating sensory characteristics, enhancing bioactivity, and significantly improving shelf-life stability [[15], [16], [17]]. Common advantages of ENCAP in the food industry include: (i) Protection of bioactives from environmental conditions over processing and storage, thereby enhancing stability; (ii) Sustained release of bioactives; (iii) Increased bioaccessibility of food ingredients; (iv) Reduction/masking of off-flavors and undesirable tastes; (v) Prevention of undesirable interactions with other biochemical compounds; (vi) Improved solubility of sparingly-soluble bioactives; and (vii) Prolonged and triggered delivery of hydrophobic bioactives in aqueous milieu [18].

Generally, nature-derived biopolymers namely chitosan (CS), albumin, alginate, gelatin (GEL), starch, and collagen (COL) have been widely utilized in designing micro/nano-carriers in the food sector. The fabrication of nano-engineered structures typically involves methods based on either top-down or bottom-up techniques [19]. A top-down method (e.g., ball milling, etching techniques, emulsification-solvent evaporation, and emulsification) involves utilizing specialized tools to reduce the size and alter the morphology of nanocarriers. On the other hand, bottom-up techniques (e.g., chemical vapor deposition, sol-gel method, and molecular self-assembly), form nanocarriers through the self-organization of molecules, which are affected by various factors like concentration, ionic strength, temperature, and pH [20]. It has been shown that ENCAP significantly alters key physicochemical properties; e.g., particle shape, size, surface area, size distribution, and solubility. Typical strategies for the embedment of enzymes comprise spray chilling, spray drying (SD), extrusion, centrifugal extrusion, freeze drying, coacervation, nano-emulsification, electrodynamic processing. ENCAP of enzymes is designed to expand their usability across a broad range of pH levels and temperatures, thereby enhancing the enzymatic activity (ENZAC) and stability for potential applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries [21]. Undoubtedly, the appropriate selection of an ENCAP strategy is crucial for achieving high ENCAP efficiency (EE) and protecting enzymes from environmental stressors, thereby preserving their intrinsic biological activity [5].