According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global food waste amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons annually for various reasons. One of the primary sources of food waste is low-quality crops that are overlooked during harvesting due to their unattractive appearance but are safe to consume. As a result, these crops are often discarded or used at a low value, despite containing high levels of active organic compounds such as peptides, polysaccharides, and polyphenols. However, as global resources continue to deplete and environmental pollution worsens, a “circular economy” is gaining popularity, driving the development of technologies for processing defective products to reduce resource wastage and ecological pollution. Additionally, health and nutritional concerns are increasing. Therefore, there is significant potential in extracting valuable ingredients from low-quality crops and maximizing their nutritional value during the shelf-life through the use of green/intelligent packaging technologies.
This Research Topic aims to enhance the value of low-quality crops in food processing by devising sustainable circular recovery and processing methods, with particular attention to extraction technologies that decrease resource wastage and ecological pollution. In addition, the exploration of sustainable green/intelligent packaging technologies is also conducted to improve the quality and preservation ability of the active compounds extracted from low-quality crops and to provide higher consumption safety.
This Research Topic welcomes recent original research articles and reviews that focus on, but are not limited to, the following subtopics:
- Based on the concept of a circular economy, advanced processing technologies, such as pulsed electric field, pressurized liquid, high hydrostatic pressure, enzyme-assisted, and supercritical fluid extractions, aim to extract valuable components from low-quality crops using less energy and solution and to create high-value-added products.
- Sustainable green/intelligent packaging technologies are explored to improve the quality and preservation ability of the active compounds extracted from low-quality crops and to provide higher consumption safety.
- Combining the properties of bioactive compounds and packaging materials to develop green packaging materials with special functions, such as freshness preservation, mold resistance, and antioxidation.
According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global food waste amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons annually for various reasons. One of the primary sources of food waste is low-quality crops that are overlooked during harvesting due to their unattractive appearance but are safe to consume. As a result, these crops are often discarded or used at a low value, despite containing high levels of active organic compounds such as peptides, polysaccharides, and polyphenols. However, as global resources continue to deplete and environmental pollution worsens, a “circular economy” is gaining popularity, driving the development of technologies for processing defective products to reduce resource wastage and ecological pollution. Additionally, health and nutritional concerns are increasing. Therefore, there is significant potential in extracting valuable ingredients from low-quality crops and maximizing their nutritional value during the shelf-life through the use of green/intelligent packaging technologies.
This Research Topic aims to enhance the value of low-quality crops in food processing by devising sustainable circular recovery and processing methods, with particular attention to extraction technologies that decrease resource wastage and ecological pollution. In addition, the exploration of sustainable green/intelligent packaging technologies is also conducted to improve the quality and preservation ability of the active compounds extracted from low-quality crops and to provide higher consumption safety.
This Research Topic welcomes recent original research articles and reviews that focus on, but are not limited to, the following subtopics:
- Based on the concept of a circular economy, advanced processing technologies, such as pulsed electric field, pressurized liquid, high hydrostatic pressure, enzyme-assisted, and supercritical fluid extractions, aim to extract valuable components from low-quality crops using less energy and solution and to create high-value-added products.
- Sustainable green/intelligent packaging technologies are explored to improve the quality and preservation ability of the active compounds extracted from low-quality crops and to provide higher consumption safety.
- Combining the properties of bioactive compounds and packaging materials to develop green packaging materials with special functions, such as freshness preservation, mold resistance, and antioxidation.
