Fruits and Vegetables: Recent Advances in Sustainable Extraction and Processing Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a growing interest in healthier dieting that is expected to continue in future. Fruits and vegetables are valuable sources of various bioactive compounds that are believed to have many health-promoting effects. They are not only consumed fresh, but also widely subjected to industrial processing and preservation to extend their shelf life. Various thermal and non-thermal technologies, combined or individual (as in the hurdle concept), are now used in the processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables and their products. To that end, sustainable technologies with lower environmental impacts that can warrant good efficiency compared to conventional technologies are subjects of intensive research interest. Fruit and vegetable by-products remaining after processing (e.g., peels, skins and seeds) represent a low-cost material potentially rich in functional ingredients that could be useful for the food industry. Consequently, concentrated work is being conducted on new extraction technologies to improve the yield and functionality of the obtained extracts. Particular attention has been paid to natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) as a means of extracting and improving the bioavailability of bioactives from fruit and vegetable by-products.

The contributions to this Special Issue will cover all research aspects related to sustainable extraction and processing technologies for fruits and vegetables and their by-products, with respect to the production of functional foods and additives.

Dr. Danijela Bursać Kovačević
Prof. Dr. Branimir Pavlic
Dr. Aleksandra Mišan
Prof. Dr. Predrag Putnik 
Guest Editors

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