Potential Of Agro-Food By-Product's For Natural Food Additives

Nowadays, the agro-food industry generates high amounts of by-product's that may possess added value compounds with high functionality and bioactivity. Additionally, consumers' demand for healthier foodstuffs has increased over the last years, and thus the food industry has strived to answer this challenge.

- Dr. M. K.Tripathi, S.K.Giri, RJadam and V.Singh

Byproducts (Fig.1) are generally secondary products derived from primary agro-food production processes and represent an interesting and cheaper source of potentially functional ingredients, such as peptides, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds, thus promoting a circular economy concept. Food functionalization is an ever-increasing market that requires new bioactive ingredients that can be used by the food industry for the development of innovative functional products with scientifically sustained claims. In this regard, much attention has been paid in recent years to natural compounds and their associated bioactivities. However, natural sources are finite, and new alternatives have to be sought to sustain the evergrowing needs for ingredients and additives of the food industry. The natural compounds from agro-food by-products may also be regarded as nutraceutical ingredients or complements, allowing for the development of products with enhanced nutritional value, potential health benefits, longer shelf-life, as well as a good sensory profile.

Food additives have an essential role in the current industry and consumption habits, as they not only make food products more appealing, but they increase their stability and inherent safety. Overall, food additives may be defined as compounds/extracts that are added to a food product in order to accomplish a specific technological goal but are not ingested as a food product themselves. The additive must not pose a safety concern for the consumers health (when ingested) while fulfilling a specific technological need that cannot be satisfied through other reasonable means.