Applications and Emergent Solutions for the Nanofood Industry and Nanoagriculture: Technology Landscape, Market Analysis, and Patent Trends.

Nanotechnology is increasingly recognized as a key enabling technology for addressing critical challenges in the global agri-food system, including food security, sustainability, and resource efficiency. As the industry seeks to enhance productivity while reducing environmental impact, nano-enabled solutions such as nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and veterinary delivery systems are becoming pivotal in driving agricultural innovation. This review provides a comprehensive literature narrative review of current and emerging nano-enabled applications in food systems and agriculture, spanning nanoencapsulation, nanoemulsions, nanocomposites, and nanosensors designed for improved bioavailability, stability, and safety. Beyond purely technological developments, the work integrates a market analysis and a patent landscape evaluation (using Espacenet) to identify innovation trajectories and commercialization trends. The most recent developments highlights the emerging convergence of nanotechnology with digitalization, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), highly relevant for precision agriculture, and smart food systems, which is expected to play a key role in translating scientific advances into socially accepted and commercially viable solutions. Nevertheless,despite promising technological and commercial indicators, a significant finding is that most nano-enabled solutions remain incremental formulation-based innovations. Scalability, safety concerns, and the lack of regulatory harmonization represent the primary barriers to widespread adoption. Ultimately, this work emphasizes that a responsible and scalable transition to nanofood and nanoagriculture systems requires integrated, interdisciplinary approaches and a clear focus on overcoming existing commercial and safety hurdles, namely regarding harmonized risk assessment frameworks, standardized characterization methods, and life-cycle-based evaluations.