Synthetic biology for the food industry: advances and challenges.

ABSTRACT

As global environmental pollution increases, climate change worsens, and population growth continues, the challenges of securing a safe, nutritious, and sustainable food supply have become enormous. This has led to new requirements for future food supply methods and functions. The use of synthetic biology technology to create cell factories suitable for food industry production and renewable raw material conversion into important food components, functional food additives, and nutritional chemicals, represents an important method of solving the problems faced by the food industry. Here, we review the recent progress and applications of synthetic biology in the food industry, including alternatives to traditional (artificial pigments, meat, starch, and milk), functional (sweeteners, sugar substitutes, nutrients, flavoring agents), and green (green fiber, degradable packing materials, green packaging materials and food traceability) foods. Furthermore, we discuss the future prospects of synthetic biology-based applications in the food industry. Thus, this review may serve as a reference for research on synthetic biology in the food safety, food nutrition, public health, and health-related fields.