Currently, controlling food pathogens and food spoilage is practiced by addition of synthetic chemicals in many food industries worldwide.
Meanwhile, artificial food preservatives cause detrimental effects on consumers because of their toxic nature. Due to consumer awareness and harmful effects of synthetic food preservatives, research has moved towards finding alternative safe antimicrobial agents from natural substances. Marine algae proved to be a rich source of many novel unique antimicrobial compounds which could ultimately replace synthetic chemicals in food applications. Moreover, marine algae are the most abundant in the marine environment that act as the unlimited renewable source of biopolymers which could be used to fabricate nanofibers to deliver natural antimicrobial agents in the food package.
This review highlights the various bioactive compounds of marine algae and their mode action on bacterial food pathogens and their advantages. Also, an overview of different biopolymers of marine algae and their potential application in nanofibers synthesis and their current applications in food technology are also assessed in this article.
