The potential of future foods for a sustainable future

Abstract Future foods have attracted widespread attention due to the view of a sustainable supply of food and nutritional health. At present, the food industry still faces high energy consumption and pollution, which have caused enormous pressure on the ecological environment, and raised new requirements for future foods. Food synthetic biology converts raw materials into important food ingredients, functional food additives, and nutritional chemicals through cell factories to solve the unsustainable problem in food processing. As an important component of the food industry, food 3D printing has many advantages including customized food design, personalized and digital nutrition customization, simplifying the food supply chain, and broadening the source of food ingredients, which will make up for the deficiency of traditional food processing technology. The promotion of the research and application of future foods will help to improve the natural environment, alleviate the resource and energy crisis, and achieve sustainable social development.