Food Wastage-
1/3th of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets wasted.
Food losses and waste amounts ----- US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries.
Fruits and vegetables have the highest wastage rates than any other food.
Areas of Wastage in Food Chain-
Agricultural production
Post-harvest handling and storage
Processing
Distribution
Consumption
Percentage loss of different food commodities in different regions around world
Juice production along generates around 5.5 MMT of waste.
Grape and wine processing industries generate around 5 to 9 MMT of solid waste yearly worldwide.
Processing sector of industries alone generates approx 6 MMT of solid waste annually (20%-30%).
Major Utilization of Soild Waste-
Food-Feed-Food system-
Studies on waste utilization-
1. Banana peels used to synthesise silver nanoparticles
Banana peel extract (rich in natural polymers such as lignin, hemicellulose and pectin). Hydrogel prepared using banana peel extract which is fabricated with silver nanoparticles. These bio-inspired silver nanoparticles displayed antimicrobial activity towards pathogenic fungal and bacterial cultures (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli).
2. Lemon peel extracts used to preserve Mozzarella cheese
Results showed an increase in the shelf life of all active packaged Mozzarella cheeses, confirming that lemon peel extract exert an inhibitory effect on the microorganisms responsible for spoilage phenomena without affecting the functional micro biota of the product. As peel extracts are rich in phenolic content.
3. Date–pits as alternate to coffee drink
In the Middle Eastern region roasted date pits are used as natural caffeine–free drink study have showed that glucomannan found in date–pits, helped to normalize blood sugar, relieved stress on the pancreas, and discouraged blood sugar abnormalities such as hypoglycemia and prevented many chronic diseases.
4. Date–pits white skin as foaming agent
In date pits hot drink, white skin should be removed before roasting since it could form foam in the drink. However, the white skin could be used as natural foaming agent in other food products.
5. Pomegranate peel extract can replace synthetic antioxidants like BHT
Pomegranate peel extract at concentration of 800-850 ppm has stabilization efficiency comparable to conventional synthetic antioxidant such as BHT at its legal limit. Antiperoxidant activity of the pomegranate peels improves resistance of sunflower oil against oxidative rancidity and inhibits lard peroxidation.
Conclusion-
Waste from fruits and vegetables are a abundant sources of nutrients.
Utilization of this waste can reduce the waste accumulation.
Waste minimization and sustainable utilizations are achieved.
Functional ingredients can replace synthetic food additives and depeleting resources.
Most of them are economically feasible as raw material is a waste so available at lower cost and methods for their production are already functional so low capital and operational cost.
These products are raw material for various other industries so they have a well established market for sale.
Dehydrated and nutraceutical products are alternative market for food and othe industries.
Need to utilize more novel techniques to achieve higher retrieval rates of bioactive compounds.
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