Novel zero waste tactics for commercial vegetables – recent advances

Abstract

Commercial vegetables include tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and eggplant due to their surplus production, availability, and affordability. The valorisation of the massive wastage of commercial vegetables and providing a long-term solution has been challenging. The review addresses the implications of biowastes on the environment and fosters the recent investigations into valorising commercial vegetable waste to develop multiple value-added products. It discussed the outcomes of the multiple technologies, majorly on green chemistry extraction, while outlining other methods such as fermentation, enzymatic treatments, 3D printing foods, high-pressure homogenisation, microencapsulation, bio-absorption method, and pyrolysis for their respective vegetable wastes. Agri-residues can be a valuable source for formulating functional ingredients, natural additives, biodiesel, dyes, and animal feed. This comprehensive review proposes a strategy to upcycle low-cost biowaste to boost the economic and ecological benefits. The current review captures the interests and great collaborations between researchers, industrialists, policymakers, waste management bodies, and eco-activists.

The use of tailor‐made acidic deep eutectic solvents for preparation of quercetin‐enriched extracts from onion solid wastes

“…The agri‐food sector is a primary pool of plant‐derived side‐streams, which result from plant tissue processing and may include, but not limited to, leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and peels. Such materials may be regularly disposed, although they contain a spectrum of precious phytochemicals, which could be effectively recovered by deploying suitable techniques (Srenuja et al., 2022).…”

A Pilot Study on Industry Stakeholders’ Views towards Revalorization of Surplus Material from the Fruit and Vegetable Sector as a Way to Reduce Food Waste

“…Studies have also shown that waste material, such as the shells of nuts [22] or onion peels [23], can be used in the production of bio composite films with improved mechanical properties. Numerous studies have been conducted focusing on the extraction of bioactive compounds from fruit and vegetable waste streams, mostly on a small scale but with clearly demonstrated applications in both the food industry and cosmetic industry [19,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. However, due consideration should be given to the cost of setting up biorefineries or purchasing new equipment for the extraction of functional ingredients from side-streams remaining after normal processing, as costs may be prohibitive [19,31,36].…”