Drying Technologies for Fruits, Vegetables, and Animal‐Source Foods: A Critical Review of Effects on Nutritional Quality, Functional Properties, and Food Safety

Drying is one of the oldest and most widely used preservation methods for fruits, vegetables, and animal‐source foods because it extends shelf life by reducing water activity while facilitating storage, transportation, and year‐round availability. However, drying conditions markedly influence nutritional quality, functional properties, microbial safety, and overall product quality. This review critically evaluates established and recent advances in conventional drying technologies, including sun, solar, hot‐air, and vacuum drying, together with emerging approaches such as freeze, microwave, infrared, radio‐frequency, refractance window, and hybrid drying systems. The mechanisms through which drying affects vitamins, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, proteins, lipids, color, texture, antioxidant capacity, and rehydration characteristics are discussed across diverse food matrices. The review also examines the role of pretreatments in improving drying efficiency and nutrient retention, together with recent evidence regarding microbial safety, sustainability, energy efficiency, and technoeconomic considerations. Comparative synthesis of the reviewed evidence indicates that no single drying technology provides the most favorable combination of product quality, processing efficiency, food safety, environmental sustainability, and economic feasibility simultaneously. Technology selection should therefore be guided by food characteristics, desired quality attributes, production scale, and available resources. Current research trends emphasize the development of hybrid and intelligent drying systems that integrate process optimization with improved product quality and reduced energy consumption. Future work should prioritize industrial validation, life‐cycle assessment, economic evaluation, and standardization of drying protocols to facilitate wider commercial adoption.