Recent Advances in Thermal and Nonthermal Pretreatments for Enhanced Drying Efficiency, Quality Preservation, and Shelf-Life Extension of Aquatic Foods.

Aquatic foods are highly perishable due to their high moisture content, neutral pH, and rich nutrient profiles, making conventional convective drying energy-intensive and detrimental to quality through protein denaturation, lipid oxidation, nutrient loss, discoloration, and texture modification. This review critically synthesizes recent advances in thermal and nonthermal pretreatments applied to key aquatic products prior to drying. It examines mechanisms, drying kinetics, quality preservation, microbial safety, shelf-life extension, synergies with modern drying technologies, challenges, and future directions. Thermal pretreatments achieve rapid enzyme inactivation and microstructural modification, reducing drying times by 20%-40%, minimizing Maillard reactions, and reducing cooking losses. Nonthermal technologies, alone or in hybrids, exploit cavitation, electroporation, and reactive species to increase effective moisture diffusivity by up to 66%, with reported energy savings of up to 33% for several nonthermal and hybrid pretreatments, and superiorly preserve heat-labile fatty acids, astaxanthin, proteins, color, texture, rehydration capacity, and sensory attributes. Integration with modern dryers further enhances microbial safety and extends ambient shelf life. Advanced pretreatments enable the production of sustainable, high-value dried aquatic products that meet rising global demand for nutritious, convenient seafood. Scalability, cost, matrix-specific optimization, and regulatory aspects remain key challenges, while emerging directions, AI-monitored intelligent drying, green hybrids, and species-tailored protocols offer clear pathways for industrial adoption.