国家海洋药物和生物制品产业联盟

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  Marine macroalgae are emerging as sustainable natural antimicrobials.

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  Red algae produce potent halogenated bioactive compounds.

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  Algal extracts show activity against food spoilage microorganisms.

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  Bioactive compounds link chemical diversity to antimicrobial function.

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  Safety, cytotoxicity and scalability remain key research priorities.

Pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms continue to compromise food safety, shelf life and sustainability. Although synthetic antimicrobial preservatives such as sodium benzoate, sorbates, nitrites, sulphites, BHA, and BHT are widely used and effective, increasing evidence links their long-term use to health concerns, including allergenicity, the formation of harmful by-products such as benzene and nitrosamines, and potential endocrine or respiratory side-effects. These limitations, together with growing consumer and regulatory pressures, highlight the need for safer, natural alternatives. While terrestrial plant antimicrobials have been extensively studied, exploration of marine resources remains comparatively limited despite the remarkable biochemical diversity found in ocean ecosystems. Marine macroalgae from red (Rhodophyta), brown (Phaeophyceae) and green (Chlorophyta) lineages are recognised as rich sources of structurally diverse bioactive natural products, including halogenated terpenes, sulphated polysaccharides, phlorotannin's, alkaloids, sterols and polyphenols, many of which exhibit potent antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities. Despite this, well-documented bioactivity and the established use of algal ingredients such as alginate, carrageenan, fucoidan and phycocyanin in food systems, the targeted development of macroalgae-derived antimicrobials for food preservation remains limited. This gap is largely driven by challenges in extraction and purification from complex algal matrices, chemical variability, stability in food systems, sensory compatibility, and regulatory constraints. The rapid evolution of LC–MS, GC–MS, HPLC, and metabolomics has transformed our ability to uncover macroalgal bioactive compounds, paving the way for their application as sustainable and effective natural antimicrobials in modern food systems.