Porous pathways to improve food functionality and sustainability

A growing body of literature is demonstrating that porous regions, distributed across nano-, micro-, and macro-scales, are not merely empty spaces but critical features that influence food functionality and sustainability. Food porosity significantly increases surface area, driving chemical and biological reactivity at interfaces and enhancing the release or absorption/adsorption of food liquids (e.g., water, oil), volatile compounds (e.g., flavors, antioxidants), and bioactive molecules (e.g., vitamins and other micronutrients). The growing awareness of structure-function relationships in porous food materials has enabled more quantitative evaluations and a deeper mechanistic understanding of the complex roles that pores play within food matrices. This special issue of Food Structure, focused on “Structured porous materials”, brings together a collection of studies that offer new insights into various aspects of pore formation and design, porosity characterization, and potential applications of food porosity across diverse food systems.