Tailoring food-grade Pickering emulsions through advanced particle design: a comprehensive review

Pickering emulsions (PEs) stabilized by solid particles have gained increasing interest in food systems as alternatives to surfactant-based emulsions, owing to their superior physical stability, reduced toxicity, and compatibility with clean-label formulations. However, many food-grade particles exhibit limited interfacial activity, sensitivity to environmental conditions, or insufficient robustness during processing, while existing reviews often provide descriptive summaries rather than mechanistic integration across particle properties and functional performance. This review examines food-grade PEs from an interfacial engineering perspective, systematically analyzing how intrinsic particle characteristics and advanced particle design strategies regulate emulsion formation, stability, and functionality. Modification approaches are evaluated with respect to their interfacial mechanisms, food compatibility. Bibliometric analysis is further employed to identify research evolution, emerging trends, and application hotspots in food and related systems. This work provides a critical, mechanism-oriented framework that bridges fundamental interfacial science with application-driven formulation, offering guidance for the rational design of next-generation food-grade PEs.