Valorisation of animal blood for sustainable food innovation: Advances, functional potential, and future perspectives

The valorisation of animal blood represents an underexploited opportunity for advancing sustainable food systems and circular bioeconomy strategies. Rich in high-quality proteins, bioavailable haem iron, and bioactive compounds, animal blood offers substantial nutritional and functional potential for food and nutraceutical applications. This review examines the compositional characteristics of blood fractions and their roles in emulsifying, foaming, gelling, and water-binding functionalities. Recent technological advances, including enzymatic hydrolysis, membrane filtration, and sub-critical solvent extraction, have enhanced the bioactivity, stability, and applicability of blood-derived ingredients, enabling protein enrichment, iron fortification, and oxidative stability in diverse food matrices. Emerging clean-label processing approaches and delivery platforms are further expanding applications beyond traditional meat products to fortified foods and therapeutic nutrition. Nevertheless, broader adoption remains constrained by food safety, regulatory, cultural, religious, and sensory challenges. By synthesizing recent developments, this review highlights the potential of animal blood as a sustainable, multifunctional ingredient for next-generation food innovation.