Food preservation poses a critical challenge in ensuring global food security, as microbial spoilage results in significant economic losses and public health risks from foodborne illnesses. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising next-generation biopreservatives in the food industry, owing to their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and natural origin. These bioactive molecules inhibit food spoilage microorganisms through diverse mechanisms. Furthermore, certain AMPs exhibit multifunctional properties beyond antibacterial effects, including antioxidants, immunomodulatory, and metabolic regulatory activities, which support their exploration as functional food additives. To overcome production challenges such as low translational efficiency and host cytotoxicity, advanced expression systems have been developed through host strain optimization, vector engineering, and streamlined purification processes, significantly enhancing the production of AMPs. This review systematically summarizes recent advances and prospects of AMP applications in the food industry, providing an in-depth exploration of efficient biological expression strategies aimed at supporting the scalable production and broader utilization of AMPs.
Ding et al. (Sun,) studied this question.