Professor Anet Režek Jambrak is a full professor of Food Engineering at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Croatia, where she also serves as Head of the Laboratory for Sustainable Development. She graduated in Food Engineering from the University of Zagreb in 2002 and obtained her PhD in 2008 with research focused on the influence of ultrasound on the physical and functional properties of whey proteins. She was elected to full professorship in 2018 and to tenured full professorship in 2023.
Her scientific and professional work focuses on food process engineering, nonthermal and advanced thermal food processing, sustainability and sustainable development, food chemistry and physics, Industry 4.0, digitalisation, and additive technologies. Her research particularly addresses innovative and environmentally friendly processing technologies, including ultrasound, pulsed electric fields, cold plasma, advanced oxidation processes, microwave processing, and sustainable extraction of bioactive compounds and proteins from food and agricultural by-products.
Professor Režek Jambrak has an extensive record of research leadership and international collaboration. She has served as principal investigator or collaborator on numerous Croatian, European, and international research projects, including projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, Horizon 2020, PRIMA, Erasmus+, and European Regional Development Funds. Her current research includes the digitalisation of nonthermal extraction of proteins from plant by-products and electroforming, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and innovative food technologies. She has published more than 160 peer-reviewed papers in internationally indexed journals and has authored or co-authored numerous scientific book chapters. As of August 2026, her work has received more than 10,800 citations and she has an h-index of 54. She is also an editor or editorial board member of several international scientific journals and has edited scientific books on nonthermal processing, sustainability, and artificial intelligence in agriculture, food, and health.
Professor Režek Jambrak is an experienced lecturer, mentor, keynote speaker, and international scientific expert. She has supervised PhD, MSc, and BSc students and has delivered more than 50 keynote and invited lectures internationally. She is active in professional and scientific organisations, including EFFoST and IAFoST, and has contributed to numerous international research networks and COST Actions.
Her scientific achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards, including the 2026 Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, the 2021 Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, the 2019 Highly Cited Researcher recognition, the 2019 National Award for Science for outstanding scientific publishing, and the 2016 IUFoST Young Scientist Award.
Through her research, teaching, and international collaboration, Professor Režek Jambrak contributes to the development of innovative, sustainable, and digitally enabled food processing technologies and to the advancement of sustainable food systems.
Summary
From Bioactive Recovery to Sustainable Food Systems: Green Processing, Life-Cycle Thinking and Circular Valorization
The transition toward sustainable food systems requires a fundamental shift from linear food processing toward integrated approaches that combine resource efficiency, environmental responsibility, food quality, and circular valorization. Food and agro-industrial by-products are increasingly recognized as valuable sources of phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, proteins, polysaccharides, pigments, and other high-value bioactive compounds. However, the sustainability of their recovery cannot be judged solely by extraction yield or the use of a solvent described as “green.” A truly sustainable process must consider energy, water, solvents, carbon emissions, waste generation, downstream processing, product quality, economics, and industrial scalability across the life cycle.
The evolution of bioactive recovery from conventional solvent extraction toward innovative green and process-intensification technologies will be overviewed present. Attention will be given to ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, subcritical and pressurized-liquid extraction, supercritical CO₂ extraction, high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, instantaneous controlled pressure-drop (DIC) technology, steam explosion, high-voltage electrical discharge, enzymatic extraction, and deep and natural deep eutectic solvents. Their potential to enhance cellular disruption, improve mass transfer, shorten processing time, reduce solvent consumption, and increase the recovery and stability of sensitive bioactive compounds will be critically discussed.
A central focus will be the integration of green processing with life-cycle assessment (LCA). Recent studies demonstrate that the most technologically advanced extraction route is not necessarily the most environmentally sustainable. For example, a recent apple-pomace LCA reported 6.20 kg CO₂-eq per g bioactive compounds recovered for subcritical water extraction compared with 71.42 kg CO₂-eq per g bioactive compounds recovered for supercritical CO₂ extraction under the conditions studied. In agro-industrial residue valorization, electricity has been reported to contribute up to 99% of global-warming impact, while evaporation and freeze-drying can together account for approximately 80% of total process electricity consumption. These findings highlight the importance of considering the complete process rather than focusing exclusively on extraction performance. Therefore, it is necessary to examine sustainability using quantitative indicators including energy intensity, water consumption, carbon footprint, solvent and chemical intensity, waste and wastewater generation, transportation, bioactive recovery, and food-quality retention. The importance of appropriate functional units, system boundaries, solvent recovery, renewable energy, heat integration, and realistic scale-up will be emphasized.
Finally, aim is to propose a vision for circular food biorefineries, where residues are transformed into bioactives, functional ingredients, biomaterials, and other value-added products through integrated processing cascades. The future of sustainable food processing will not depend on one universally “green” technology, but on the intelligent integration of technologies and life-cycle thinking to maximize functional value while minimizing energy, water, carbon, solvent, and waste intensity. The goal is to move from green extraction to measurable sustainability and from waste valorization to truly circular food systems.