<p>Edible coatings offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic packaging. However, achieving uniform, material-efficient, and reproducible deposition on complex food geometries remains a major barrier to industrial-scale adoption. This review examines a wide range of coating materials including polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, agro-industrial waste derivatives, and emerging biopolymers from seaweed, microbial, and insect sources and summarizes their key physicochemical properties, molecular interactions, and functional performance. Coating application methods are critically evaluated from both material and process perspectives, spanning traditional dip, spin, brush, and flow coating to advanced layer-by-layer assembly, vacuum impregnation, pressure-based spraying, electrostatic deposition, and next-generation ultrasonic and multi-fluid atomization. The analysis highlights the superior scalability of pressure-based spray coating and the enhanced droplet control and surface conformity offered by electrostatic and hybrid atomization technologies. Persistent challenges include inconsistent coverage on curved or recessed surfaces, lack of real-time monitoring tools, limited predictive models for three-dimensional substrates, and minimal pilot-scale validation. The insights presented provide a clear technical foundation for developing edible coating systems capable of delivering uniform, controlled, and industrially robust performance across diverse food products.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>