High-value compounds from fruit processing waste by sustainable methods

Agro-food production chain sustainability, which refers to waste reduction and the exploration of innovative ways to increase resource efficiency, is of increasing importance. Food processing activities in Europe produce large amounts of byproducts and waste. These byproducts contain attached bioactive compounds and are commonly recycled as animal feed, composted, or utilized for biogas production. With this R&D project, it is proposed to analyze the value of fruit and vegetable by-products and waste, to optimize the recovery of bioactive compounds from fruit processing waste. This project will optimize their extraction and isolation using environmentally sustainable techniques, such as pressurized liquid extraction and enzyme-assisted extraction, among others. Also, new advanced analytical techniques will be developed to achieve an accurate characterization of these compounds. In summary, we suggest the possibility of using fruit and vegetable waste as a new natural source for the production of ingredients based on non-extractable polyphenols with therapeutic functionalities (antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, hypolipidemic, and antihypertensive) of vast interest to the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.