Recent transcriptomics advances and emerging applications in food science

•Application of gene-expression microarray and RNA-seq in food research.•Advantages and drawbacks of main microarray and RNA-sequencing platforms.•Food-crop transcriptomics using RNA-seq and microarray.•Gene-expression microarray and RNA-seq studies in food-microbiology research.•Microarray analysis in nutrigenomics studies.

We provide an overview of the recent progress in high-throughput transcriptomics techniques, namely microarray and RNA-seq, and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Besides, we highlight relevant applications of these technologies in the context of food science to illustrate their impressive potential. We also provide some ideas of the future technological advances and the potential applications of these fast-evolving techniques.