Valorizing Food By-Products: Pathways to Sustainable Nutrition and Waste Reduction

The field of sustainable food production is currently addressing the complex challenges of nutrition and waste reduction. A critical area of focus is the valorization of food by-products, which explores how the often-overlooked remnants of food production can be repurposed to contribute to nutritional enhancements and waste minimization. Recent studies highlight the potential health benefits and environmental impacts of incorporating these by-products into new, nutritionally enriched food items while also advancing the zero-waste agenda. Despite these promising developments, there remains a significant gap in comprehensive process development and understanding of the integration of by-products in mainstream food systems. This gap underscores the need for further investigation to align with global sustainable development goals.

This Research Topic aims to explore innovative strategies and methodologies for valorizing food by-products to enhance nutrition and achieve waste reduction. The main goals include addressing key questions related to the development of new processes for extracting valuable compounds from by-products, testing the nutritional and health impacts of these compounds, and evaluating the environmental benefits of reduced food wastage. By examining various hypotheses and potential strategic approaches, this research endeavors to pave the way for effectively integrating by-products into the food supply chain.

To gather further insights into sustainable food systems, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Development of innovative processes for the extraction of bioactive compounds from food by-products.
• Characterization of novel compounds from food by-products.
• Postharvest processing techniques for enhancing bioactive retention from food by-products.
• Evaluation of the health benefits and nutritional enhancements of food products enriched with by-products.
• Environmental impact assessment of incorporating food by-products into new food products.
• Economic analysis and market potential for food products derived from by-product valorization.
• Case studies demonstrating successful integration of food by-products in sustainable food systems.
• Extraction of aromatic compounds from by-products for use in food or medicine.
• Production of biofuels or biogas from food waste.
• Bioplastic production by using by-products.

Submit your contributions that align with these innovative approaches to unlocking the potential of food by-products.

Keywords: Sustainable nutrition, Waste reduction, Zero-waste processes, Nutritional enhancement, Bioactive compound extraction, Eco-friendly practices, Food security, Sustainable food systems, Environmental Impact Assessment, Food by-product valorization

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.