Enzyme technology in the conversion of food processing wastes into valuable products

MELNICHUK, NATASHA; LACAVA, FRANCO E.; ROMANINI, DIANA; MEINI, MARÍA-ROCÍO

Value-Addition in Agri-Food Industry Waste through Enzyme Technology

ELSEVIER

Año: 2023;

Bioeconomy stands for the use of renewable biomasses deriving from agricultural and agro-industrial activities such as crops, woods, fish, farming animals, and microorganisms, to produce food, materials, and energy. The shift from the fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy requires a more efficient usage of the biomass generated from agricultural and agro-industrial activity to retrieve value-added products. Value addition can take place at any of the following stages in the food supply chain: sourcing of raw materials, production, processing and packaging, storage, distribution, and redistribution to consumers. The food processing stage is at the focus of bio-based valorization strategies, which have made use of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, and fungi, and their enzymes since the beginnings of the food elaboration history. The enzymatic action usually leads to an improvement of nutritional and organoleptic properties, offering new products with additional economic value. Of particular interest are those products arising from wastes in the food supply chain. Food waste generated from processing steps contains organic materials, which is composed of carbon, nitrogen, and lipids in various forms such as starch, lignocellulose, proteins, and fats or oils. Therefore, enzymatic hydrolysis by carbohydrate degrading enzymes (α-amylases, glucoamylases, cellulases, pectinases), proteases, and lipases can retrieve glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. These components can be used for production of food ingredients, biomaterials or biofuel. In addition, bioactive compounds, such as carotenoids and polyphenols can be recovered from the plant derived wasted material. The present chapter describes the recent advances in enzyme technology for value-addition in the food supply chain with a special focus on bioprocessing of food wastes.