Green extraction of food waste and by-products: basic concepts and principles

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Nowadays, one of the main challenges of our society concerns the development of sustainable solutions for the management of food industry side streams (FIS). It is estimated that roughly one-third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, gets lost or wasted globally, corresponding to about 1.6 billion tons per year involving by-products (bagasse, peels, stems, shells, seeds, bones, skins, scales, ...), as well as whole preparations trashed for not meeting the commercialization quality criteria (ripeness, size, color, odor, etc..) need to be managed and disposed with a loss of about 2 trillion euros, and this data is expecting to increase within next years. However, if correctly managed several nutrients and actives can be still extracted from different FIS, turning them into high-added value products, drastically reducing social, economic and environmental impacts due their disposal or incineration. Indeed, FIS minimization together with the possibility of bioactives recovery and their modification through green methodologies, can represent an attractive opportunity not only for the development of new food ingredients but also for the nutraceutical, cosmetic, textile and pharmaceutical sectors, among others. In this context, "Green Extraction" is defined in literature as follows "Green Extraction is based on the discovery and design of extraction processes which will reduce energy consumption, allows use of alternative solvents and renewable natural products, and ensure a safe and high quality extract/product" [1-2] and it plays a crucial role. Following the twelve principles of green chemistry and the twelve principles of green engineering [3] which define the good practices to be adopted to face FIS handling, researchers from academia and industry defined the six principles of green extraction [1]. The basic concepts of each green extraction principle will be contextualized in case studies of industrial FIS, ranging from those coming from animal to plant foods, with a particular focus on fishery side-streams as the main topic of EcoeFISHEnt an European H2020 project started in 2021 [4]. References [1] Chemat F, Vian MA, Cravotto G. Green extraction of natural products: concept and principles. Int J Mol Sci. 2012;13(7):8615-8627. doi: 10.3390/ijms13078615. [2] Chemat F, Vian MA, Fabiano-Tixier AS, Strube J, Uhlenbrock L, Gunjevic V, Cravotto G, Green extraction of natural products. Origins, current status, and future challenge. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 2019; 118: 248-263. doi: 10.1016/j.trac.2019.05.037. [3] Anastas, P.T.; Warner, J.C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2000 [4] EcoeFISHent H2020-LC-GD-2020-3, https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101036428

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