Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products

Dear Colleagues,

Food waste (FW) is a global problem that has moved up the public and political agenda in recent years. It will grow in importance, especially given the need to feed the growing global population. Food is a precious commodity, and its production can be resource intensive. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), food loss (FL) is defined as “the decrease in quantity or quality of food”. Food waste is part of food loss, and refers to discarding or alternative (non-food) use of food that is safe and nutritious for human consumption along the entire food supply chain, from primary production to end-household consumer level. The European Project FUSIONS defines FW as ‘‘any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from (lost to or diverted from) the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed (including composted, crops ploughed in/not harvested, anaerobic digestion, bio-energy production, co-generation, incineration, disposal to sewer, landfill or discarded to sea).
Current estimates indicate that, globally, nearly 1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted throughout the food supply chain. In the European Union, food garbage is expected to increase from 89 million tons in 2006 to 126 million tons in 2020. The contribution of the household sector accounts for 42% of this total figure. FL and FW generation produces an impact at environmental, social, and economic levels.
Currently, most food wastes are recycled, mainly as animal feed and compost. The remaining quantities are incinerated and disposed of in landfills, causing serious emissions of methane (CH₄), which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a greenhouse gas and significantly contributes to climate change. Social impacts of FL and FW may be ascribed to ethical and moral dimensions within the general concept of global food security. Economic impacts are due to the costs related to food wastage and their effects on farmers and consumer incomes.

The EU waste frame­work directive 2008/98/EC defines the EU waste management hierarchy as: (a) prevention, (b) preparing for reuse, (c) recycling, (d) other recovery (e.g., energy recovery), and (e) disposal. Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency defines the following hierarchy in relation to FW management: (a) source reduction; (b) feed hungry people; (c) feed animals; (d) industrial uses; (e) composting, incineration, or landfilling.

Preventing the over-production and over-supply of food are the first steps to be taken in reducing FW generation. In the subsequent steps, since FW is a reservoir of complex carbohydrates (i.e., starch, cellulose, and hemicellulose), proteins, lipids, etc., it can form the raw material for a large spectrum of commercially important products such as biofuels (i.e., bioethanol, bio-butanol, biodiesel), enzymes, organic acids, biopolymers, nutraceuticals, and dietary fibers. The implementation of the biorefinery concept could be an essential part of the successful valorization of FW. Producing a spectrum of bio-based products, FW biorefinery can complement fossil-based refinery to a certain extent and address the major drivers for bioeconomy viz. climate, resource security, and ecosystem services.

The goal of this Special Issue is to publish both recent innovative research results as well as review papers on food waste valorization for the production of value-added products.

Dr. Diomi Mamma
Guest Editor

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