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Edible coatings are widely studied as food-compatible formulations for reducing moisture loss, oxidation, microbial spoilage, oil uptake, and quality deterioration. Their translation from laboratory formulation to industrial use, however, depends not only on film-forming composition but also on controlled deposition, retained dose, surface coverage, drying history, defect formation, hygienic operation, and reproducible performance on heterogeneous food surfaces. An OpenAlex-supported evidence-map audit (2014–2026) was used to separate direct food-coating validation from adjacent engineering models. This review reframes edible coatings as engineered deposited interfaces and proposes a claim-controlled, evidence-tiered framework linking food-grade biopolymer fluids, processability, atomization, droplet impact, wet-film evolution, dry-film structure, image-based metrology, multiphase modeling, and food-performance endpoints. This review outlines the prerequisites for future digital-twin-ready edible coating workflows by linking functional biopolymer fluids, deposition technologies, droplet physics, intelligent image metrology, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Volume of Fluid (VOF), uncertainty reporting, food-performance endpoints, safety, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and patent-aware innovation. Digital twins are treated as a future integration target that depends on validated inputs, standardized reporting, deposition metrology and food-specific model validation. The central argument is that progress in edible coatings requires fewer isolated formulation claims and stronger validated links between deposited-interface properties and food-relevant function. A minimum reporting checklist is proposed to support reproducible comparison of deposition routes, coating structures, and translation potential.
Dávalos-Saucedo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.