PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Food Sci. Technol.
Sec. Food Safety and Quality Control
Cocoa Husk in the Circular Bioeconomy: A Perspective from Ecuador and Other Producer Countries
Provisionally accepted
- Universidad Agraria del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador
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Background. Cocoa husk is an abundant agro-industrial by-product in producer regions, such as Ecuador. Evidence shows promise across food, materials, and bioenergy applications; however, industrial uptake remains limited by safety, standardization, and financing barriers. Objective. This Perspective synthesizes advances in cocoa husk valorization, articulates the authors' viewpoint on feasible near-term pathways, and proposes policy and implementation steps for the producer countries. Approach. We map application domains by maturity (food, industrial materials, and bioenergy), highlight feasibility, safety, and market considerations, and present a pragmatic adoption framework tailored to Ecuador while being relevant to other producer contexts. Key messages. (i) Near-term opportunities lie in functional foods and low-tech materials integrated with local chains; (ii) scaling is constrained by raw-material variability, safety compliance, and the lack of SOPs; and (iii) bioenergy routes are context-dependent and more credible within integrated biorefinery models. Implications. Priority actions include harmonized safety standards and testing, public–private–academic pilots, targeted incentives for first-movers, and modular, low-cost process templates. Conclusion. Aligning evidence, regulation, and financing can shift cocoa husks from waste to strategic resources within circular bioeconomy agendas in Ecuador and other producer countries.
Keywords: Circular Bioeconomy, Cocoa husk, Policy implementation, Food Safety, industrial valorization, public–private partnerships, sustainability transition
Received: 16 Oct 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alava, Moncayo and Galarza. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cecibel Alava, calava@uagraria.edu.ec
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