Food Science and Agriculture: Research Highlights Vol. 8

Textile structures occupy a distinctive but fragmented position in food storage and packaging. Woven sacks and meshes remain indispensable for bulk grains and fresh produce, nonwoven pads regulate exudate and local package humidity, and electrospun fibrous mats increasingly serve as carriers for antimicrobials, antioxidants and freshness-responsive compounds. Yet these technologies are often assessed in separate disciplinary literatures, which obscures the common design problem: how fibre chemistry, pore architecture, surface treatment and multilayer construction jointly determine mechanical integrity, mass transfer, biological control, sensing performance, safety and end-of-life outcomes. This critical narrative review integrates evidence on woven natural- and synthetic-fibre containers, hermetic textile-composite bags, absorbent nonwovens, electrospun active materials and textile-supported intelligent indicators. Literature published from 1 January 2000 to 31 May 2026 was selected through accessible scholarly indexes, DOI registries, official journal records and citation searching, with earlier foundational work retained where necessary. Conventional jute and woven polypropylene provide low-cost handling and stackability, but open structures offer limited protection against moisture, oxygen and insects unless combined with coatings or liners. Hermetic multilayer systems generally provide stronger stored-grain protection, although puncture sensitivity and complex end-of-life pathways remain important constraints. Electrospun materials offer high surface area, tunable release and rapid analyte response, but most evidence remains based on laboratory-scale production, short storage trials and incompletely characterised migration. Colourimetric nanofibre indicators can track food-specific spoilage chemistry, yet they cannot independently demonstrate microbiological safety and require calibration against temperature, humidity and matrix effects. Across all textile classes, claims of sustainability are frequently stronger than comparative life-cycle evidence. Progress depends on architecture-specific test standards, realistic food-contact and migration studies, pilot-scale manufacturing, reuse-hygiene validation and life-cycle assessment that includes avoided food loss. Textile packaging is therefore best understood not as a single material category, but as a hierarchy of fibrous structures whose value depends on matching transport, preservation, information and circularity functions to a defined food system.