# Marine Bioactives and Their Application in the Food Industry: A Review
## 4 Challenges and Future Trends  
The increasing consumer focus on healthy food ingredients is propelling both research and the development of functional foods, with no exception from those of marine origin. Given this background, the health effect of marine-derived functional foods should be scientifically proven, the institutional barriers to the commercialization of foods with marine-derived ingredients cleared, and the feasibility of marine food for human consumption widely established to ensure the vast resources of marine organisms are optimally utilized. While the wealth of bioactive sources in the marine ecosystem and their potential application in the functional food industry hold great promise, there are several challenges that must be addressed. Achieving a successful transition from technological development to commercialization necessitates the standardization of analytical methods to ensure product quality, evaluation of sensory characteristics to gain consumer acceptance, and well-structured clinical trials to generate substantial evidence for health claims. As an illustration, the utilization of microalgae as a source of food ingredients has seen some progress in the industry but still awaits full exploitation of its biotechnological potential [49].  
The incorporation of marine-derived ingredients into the human diet is a multifaceted matter that is influenced by various constraints. These constraints encompass global factors, such as cultural and ethnic considerations like dietary preferences and habits, environmental concerns such as apprehension about ocean pollution and the sustainable use of resources, and also more specific factors like the sensory qualities of food and compliance with legislation [4; 49]. There are no clearly defined safety regulations specific to most functional food. In the EU, the functional food sector has only achieved modest growth, mainly due to the lack of European legislation specifically for health benefits, efficacy, and health claims. The legislation in specific countries, which is continuously changing and sometimes requires complex procedures, is a potential obstacle for the new functional foods, mainly marine-derived ones. The financial implication of complying with these regulations is huge. For example, in order to prove the health benefits, scientifically expensive human clinical trials should be conducted. Due to the elevated cost of products due to these costly procedures, the targeted market niche may be somewhat narrow.  
Identifying, extracting, incorporating, and commercializing marine-derived functional food ingredients is challenging. The exploration and utilization of marine-derived functional food should be compatible with sustainable harvest practices and food grade compatibility. Moreover, the methods of extraction of concentrated extracts should be efficient and sustainable. It is essential to validate the biological properties of these extracts and purified functional ingredients to facilitate the development of novel functional foods, incorporating them into consumer foods. Furthermore, evaluating the stability and bioavailability of these functional ingredients, as well as substantiating their specific health benefits through human clinical trials, is of paramount importance. For instance, the digestibility of algal proteins remains poorly characterized, and existing studies on their assimilation by humans have not yielded definitive conclusions [4]. Even under the above-discussed challenges, there exists a vast body of literature exposing new opportunities for marine-derived value-added products. For example, encapsulation of bioactives not only preserves nutrients but also improves bioavailability, sensory characteristics, and antioxidant activity; it also reduces toxicity [152]. [PERSON] et al. [127] reported that encapsulation of fish oils, fish protein hydrolysates, and shrimp lipid extracts using whey protein and chitosan could be a potential approach to retain functional characteristics and improve antioxidant activity.