Exploring the antimicrobial potential of plant-based bioactive compounds in meat products: advances in mechanistic insights, pathogen inhibition, and shelf-life extension

, while simultaneously extending shelf-life. Synergistic enhancement occurs when combined with refrigeration, modified atmosphere packaging, or curing. Emerging technologies including nano-encapsulation, emulsions, AI-driven phytochemical prediction, and CRISPR/Cas9-based pathogen targeting, further expand their potential for precision food safety. Integrating plant antimicrobials with phages or probiotics provides additional promise for hurdle-based preservation. Despite encouraging laboratory findings, challenges remain, particularly regulatory harmonization, scalability, and validation in complex real-world meat matrices. This review calls for interdisciplinary efforts to translate molecular insights into commercially viable, consumer-trusted solutions for sustainable meat preservation.