Coffee By-Products as Sustainable Novel Foods: Report of the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Foods—“Future Foods and Food Technologies for a Sustainable World”

Abstract

The coffee plant Coffea spp. offers much more than the well-known drink made from the roasted coffee bean. During its cultivation and production, a wide variety of by-products are accrued, most of which are currently unused, thermally recycled, or used as fertilizer or animal feed. Modern, ecologically oriented society attaches great importance to sustainability and waste reduction, so it makes sense to not dispose of the by-products of coffee production but to bring them into the value chain, most prominently as foods for human nutrition. There is certainly huge potential for all of these products, especially on markets not currently accessible due to restrictions, such as the novel food regulation in the European Union. The by-products could help mitigate the socioeconomic burden of coffee farmers caused by globally low coffee prices and increasing challenges due to climate change. The purpose of the conference session summarized in this article was to bring together international experts on coffee by-products and share the current scientific knowledge on all plant parts, including leaf, cherry, parchment and silverskin, covering aspects from food chemistry and technology, nutrition, but also food safety and toxicology. The topic raised a huge interest from the audience and this article also contains a Q&A section with more than 20 answered questions.

Coffee Silverskin: Chemical and Biological Risk Assessment and Health Profile for Its Potential Use in Functional Foods

“…The mixed silverskin was provided by two coffee industries of the Campania region (Italy), obtained by blending roasted green beans of Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta (in unspecified ratio). Coffee varieties are usually blended by the companies during the roasting process, then the CS is recovered with suction cyclones and collected [ 20 ]. All the CS samples were stored in the dark at 20 °C and analyzed within three days.…”

Food Upcycling

“…So viel ist klar: Es steckt viel Potenzial in und großes Interesse an den aromatischen Kaffeekirschen. [17] Literatur…”

Coffee-Derived Phenolic Compounds Activate Nrf2 Antioxidant Pathway in I/R Injury In Vitro Model: A Nutritional Approach Preventing Age Related-Damages

“…Nowadays, the pulp, like other waste parts of the fruit, is used as an organic component of fertilizers for the organic cultivation of coffee plantations. However, thanks to the bioactive properties of discovered molecules in the pulp [ 20 ], it has been proposed to use coffee pulp by-products as ingredients in foods for human nutrition [ 21 ]. In this context, it is of interest that a phytoextract (Phyt) obtained from Coffea Arabica pulp has been reported to have anti-inflammatory activity in gastric epithelial cells [ 22 ].…”