Nutraceutics from Agri-Food By-Products

Book excerpt: NUTRACEUTICS FROM AGRI-FOOD BY-PRODUCTS This book represents a comprehensive and unique overview covering different aspects (raw materials, technological innovations, and potential applications) concerning waste and by-products of the food industry. Wastes and by-products of the agri-food chain represent a rich source of active molecules that can be usefully employed in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Eco-friendly extraction procedures able to isolate the different components of the agri-food by-products represent an attractive challenge to increase the waste’s value, and, at the same time, solve the issues usually related to their disposal. Each of the 12 chapters in Nutraceutics from Agri-Food By-Products deeply analyses a specific agri-food chain, highlighting the main components recovered in the processing of food, seafood, and dairy wastes and by-products. Specifically, a green approach to the extraction of active molecules is described, as well as the industrial application of agri-food wastes and by-products, and their chemical, physical, and biological properties. Such properties are suitable for use in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical fields. This circular approach could be usefully employed in the industry to develop and commercialize new nutraceuticals and/or functional food that guarantee a considerable increase in the economic worth of the wastes, while producing beneficial effects on human health. Audience Food technologists and biotechnologists in research and industry as well as researchers in pharmaceutical sciences.