The word "waste" indicates what is around us that needs to be recycled, reused, reduced or even eliminated, if possible. Eventually, global waste is expected to reach 3.40 billion tons by 2050. In fact, bio-waste can be considered a source of environmental pollutants/contaminants, depending on the way that it is treated. Nowadays large amounts of by-products deriving from the agri-food industry are produced causing environmental stress. Agri-food bio-wastes are generated throughout the food supply chain, from production to post-harvest. The volumes vary according to the phase and the food product. For example, in Europe, households give the largest contribution to food waste, with a 53% share, followed by processing (19% of total food waste). The remaining 28% comes from catering (12%), production (11%) and wholesale and retail (5%). Thus, recently, a need for a transformation towards a sustainable circular bio-economy has been highlighted.
The use of agro-food wastes (AFW) has been increasingly promoted due to their high nutrient content, especially bio-phenols, fatty acids, coloring pigments, tocopherols, phytosterols, and squalene content. Nowadays, a global strategy is aimed at the sustainable utilization of these by-products to create value‐added products for potential applications such as food additives or coloring, bio-fertilizers, biodiesel, and nutraceuticals. In this perspective, for the better valorization of these byproducts, selecting the suitable extraction technology and defining their specific uses is important. Novel environmental-friendly methods, including ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), have been developed for the sustainable recovery of phenolic compounds (PCs) from AFW. In addition, a new generation of sustainable green solvents has been used.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions of original research, systematic reviews, reviews, methods articles, case reports, and perspectives covering the extraction, characterization, and applications of bioactive compounds from agro-food bio-wastes, considering their biological properties and use in food enrichment, preservation or packaging, or for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Potential subtopics include, but are not limited to:
- Novel techniques for green extraction of bioactive compounds from agro-food waste.
- Characterizing natural compounds from by-products and evaluating biological properties in correlation with food applications and human health benefits.
- New systems for the administration of by-product biomolecules, in correlation with the application in food products.
The word "waste" indicates what is around us that needs to be recycled, reused, reduced or even eliminated, if possible. Eventually, global waste is expected to reach 3.40 billion tons by 2050. In fact, bio-waste can be considered a source of environmental pollutants/contaminants, depending on the way that it is treated. Nowadays large amounts of by-products deriving from the agri-food industry are produced causing environmental stress. Agri-food bio-wastes are generated throughout the food supply chain, from production to post-harvest. The volumes vary according to the phase and the food product. For example, in Europe, households give the largest contribution to food waste, with a 53% share, followed by processing (19% of total food waste). The remaining 28% comes from catering (12%), production (11%) and wholesale and retail (5%). Thus, recently, a need for a transformation towards a sustainable circular bio-economy has been highlighted.
The use of agro-food wastes (AFW) has been increasingly promoted due to their high nutrient content, especially bio-phenols, fatty acids, coloring pigments, tocopherols, phytosterols, and squalene content. Nowadays, a global strategy is aimed at the sustainable utilization of these by-products to create value‐added products for potential applications such as food additives or coloring, bio-fertilizers, biodiesel, and nutraceuticals. In this perspective, for the better valorization of these byproducts, selecting the suitable extraction technology and defining their specific uses is important. Novel environmental-friendly methods, including ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), have been developed for the sustainable recovery of phenolic compounds (PCs) from AFW. In addition, a new generation of sustainable green solvents has been used.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions of original research, systematic reviews, reviews, methods articles, case reports, and perspectives covering the extraction, characterization, and applications of bioactive compounds from agro-food bio-wastes, considering their biological properties and use in food enrichment, preservation or packaging, or for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Potential subtopics include, but are not limited to:
- Novel techniques for green extraction of bioactive compounds from agro-food waste.
- Characterizing natural compounds from by-products and evaluating biological properties in correlation with food applications and human health benefits.
- New systems for the administration of by-product biomolecules, in correlation with the application in food products.