Promising Analytical and Technological Strategies for Agri-Food Waste Valorisation

Dear Colleagues,

It is scientifically evident that food demand has increased along with the production food waste and by-products, creating severe management problems and environmental pollution. Waste and by-products deriving from fruit and vegetable processing contain valuable hydrophilic and lipophilic bioactive compounds with potential health benefits (i.e., anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cardioprotective effects). The recovery of bioactive compounds involves extraction as the key step, which can be achieved through traditional or innovative methods. The latter, including ultrasound- and microwave-assisted extraction, have received considerable interest recently because they are eco-friendly and sustainable methods. Interestingly, with a view to the valorization of agri-food waste, vegetable waste and by-products could be used as fortifying ingredients of foodstuffs of both plant and animal origins. Undoubtedly, polymeric and solid lipid micro- and nanoparticles show high potential in a number of different areas. Their proven safety and the availability of scalable manufacturing techniques make them suitable to encapsulate both hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds. The aim of encapsulating bioative compounds is twofold: to improve its bioactive stability and to increase its biological availability. This Special Issue aims to collect the most recent research efforts addressing bioactive extraction and their manufacturing into nano- and microparticles. In view of their application as fortifying ingredients, low-cost materials and manufacturing technologies should be preferred.

This Special Issue on "Promising Analytical and Technological Strategies for Agri-Food Waste Valorisation” aims to curate novel advances in the valorization of agri-food waste through the recovery of bioactives and the application of new sustainable technologies to address their encapsulation. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Development of innovative green-extraction methods to recover bioactives from waste;
• Chemical-analytical characterization and evaluation of bioactivity of vegetable extracts;
• Optimization of extraction processes to drive large-scale methods toward sustainability;
• Advanced manufacturing techniques.

Dr. Francesca Blasi
Dr. Aurélie Schoubben
Guest Editors

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