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Foods
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Converting Food Waste into Value-Added Products (Second Edition)
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Converting Food Waste into Value-Added Products (Second Edition)

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 768

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Stanislava Gorjanović

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studenstski trg 12/V, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: utilization of food waste; fruit and vegetable pomace; anti-grain flour; functional food and dietary supplement development; polyphenolic bioaccessibility and retention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Snežana Zlatanović

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studenstski trg 12/V, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: utilization of by-products from food industry; food and material characterization; physicochemical analysis of foods and food components; development of innovative food products

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

By 2025, global demand for food is expected to rise by approximately 60%, while currently about one-third of all food produced goes to landfill every day. Food production generates significant amounts of waste. The environmental impact of waste disposal, united with the lack of natural resources, raised interest in its valorization and the introduction of circularity. Since food waste contains a range of valuable biomolecules, it can be utilized in agriculture, food, and pharmaceutical industries. However, due to the heterogeneous nature of valorization, the transformation of food waste into value-added products still remains a challenge. This Special Issue seeks to highlight the most recent research and innovations in the field of converting food waste into value-added products with a focus on the following:

  • Novel concepts designed to support the ‘zero waste’ approach that unites economic and health benefits with environmental protection;
  • Specific technologies that enable transformation of food waste into raw materials applicable in agriculture, food, and pharmaceutical industries;
  • Challenges and opportunities in scaling up food waste valorization technologies;
  • Innovative applications of unconventional raw materials based on food waste;
  • Specific examples of functional foods with incorporated waste;
  • Comprehensive understanding of bioactive compounds present in waste and their potential applications;
  • Environmental and techno-economic impacts of food waste valorization;
  • Future perspectives and limitations of food waste management.

We are looking forward to your contributions.

Dr. Stanislava Gorjanović
Dr. Snežana Zlatanović
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food waste
  • fruit and vegetable pomace
  • physico-chemical characterization of waste
  • waste valorization
  • life cycle
  • functional food
  • zero waste concept
  • waste to wealth
  • value-added products

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1664 KB  
Article
Onion-Peel Carbon Quantum Dots: Antimicrobial Effect and Biofilm Control on Food Contact Surfaces
by Ji Min Ahn, Yeon Ho Kim, Jong-Whan Rhim and Ki Sun Yoon
Foods 2025, 14(24), 4296; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14244296 (registering DOI) - 13 Dec 2025
Abstract
As by-products rich in flavonoids and phenolic compounds, onion peels are globally undervalued and often discarded. This study reports the synthesis of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) from onion peels and evaluates their antimicrobial effectiveness against key foodborne pathogens and biofilms on common food [...] Read more.
As by-products rich in flavonoids and phenolic compounds, onion peels are globally undervalued and often discarded. This study reports the synthesis of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) from onion peels and evaluates their antimicrobial effectiveness against key foodborne pathogens and biofilms on common food contact surfaces, including plastic, stainless steel, and rubber. The CQDs exhibited a quasi-spherical shape with particle sizes ranging from 1.7 to 9.0 nm and contained abundant oxygen- and nitrogen-functional groups, as confirmed by FT-IR and XPS analyses. The CQDs showed significant antimicrobial activity, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) against Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus of 2200/2800 µg/mL, 1400/2000 µg/mL, 1200/1800 µg/mL, and 400/600 µg/mL, respectively. Time-kill assays confirmed these results. In biofilm tests, S. Typhimurium formed biofilms more easily than L. monocytogenes. Washing with CQD solution for 5 min reduced biofilm presence by 81.6–91.5% for S. Typhimurium and over 74% for L. monocytogenes, with more than 94% reduction after 10 min of treatment (over 94% for S. Typhimurium; 95.8–98.8% for L. monocytogenes) across all surfaces, especially on plastic and stainless steel. These findings indicate that onion peel-derived CQDs are promising, eco-friendly agents for disrupting biofilms and turning undervalued waste into valuable products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Converting Food Waste into Value-Added Products (Second Edition))
25 pages, 752 KB  
Article
Phenolic Composition in Native and Defatted Nuts and Seeds from the Serbian Market: Analytical Insights and Functional Potential
by Margarita Dodevska, Nevena Ivanović, Sanja Đurović, Boris Pisinov, Uroš Čakar and Jelena Kukić Marković
Foods 2025, 14(24), 4191; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14244191 - 6 Dec 2025
Viewed by 157
Abstract
In this study the phenolic profile of 25 different commercially available edible nuts and seeds from the Serbian market and their defatted by-products were analyzed and compared. Results showed that both native and defatted nuts and seeds are rich sources of various phenolics. [...] Read more.
In this study the phenolic profile of 25 different commercially available edible nuts and seeds from the Serbian market and their defatted by-products were analyzed and compared. Results showed that both native and defatted nuts and seeds are rich sources of various phenolics. Of all the samples analyzed, walnuts, pecan nuts and sunflower seeds (raw and roasted) showed the highest total phenolic content. Sunflower seeds, especially the raw ones, proved to be an exceptionally rich source of chlorogenic acid (116,928.66 μg/g), exceeding the values previously reported in the literature. Similarly, walnut and pecan samples showed the highest levels of protocatechuic and gallic acids, while high flavonoid concentrations in different peanut samples and chia seeds suggest that these commonly consumed foods may have greater bioactive potential than previously thought. The present research confirmed the fact that certain edible nuts and seeds as well as their defatted by-products, already valued for their nutritive values, are affordable, sustainable and rich natural sources of various bioactive phenolics, especially phenolic acids. This work substantiates data on phenolic profiles of edible nuts and seeds, strengthening the foundation for the development of functional foods and contributing to the valorization of agro-industrial residues in line with the principles of circular economy and functional food innovation. Our results also highlight some important and relatively constant characteristics of phenolic composition and content in certain nuts and seeds. These characteristics could potentially serve as quality parameters for the respective samples, enabling the development of products with uniform and standardized composition, one of the prerequisites for high-quality products with pronounced activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Converting Food Waste into Value-Added Products (Second Edition))
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