The food processing and beverage industry is somewhat related to human health supplements that are manufactured by various companies. For example, in the wine making industry part of the waste pulp called must, can be recycled as grape seed extract as grape seeds consitute a large portion of the waste pulp. Grape seed extract has been shown to contain healthy compounds such as procyanidins. There are a slew of other industries related to food processing which can recycle the pulp or waste and recover these healthy biochemicals to be used as further health supplements. A few other examples include the tomato juice and apple juice/cider industries. In order to produce a lot of juice either from tomatoes or apples, a lot of pulp is produced in the process. The peels, seeds and other parts of tomato pulp have been shown to contain very healthful compounds such as fibre, proteins and antioxidants as well as containing healthful biochemicals such as lycopene, other phenolics and ascorbic acid [ 1. Lavelli et al 2011 ]. Tomatoes themselves are often processed just to recover the lycopene that is sold as tomato powder extract. However, it does make sense to use the processed waste to produce tomato health extracts instead of using the whole tomatoes themselves. The tomato skin itself is said to have over 10 times the amount of lycopene, if processes were put in place at food processing plants to recover tomato skins that aren't used in products such as tomato juice, they could be used to more efficiently make tomato powder extract. The same situation exists with apple processing waste which is termed apple pomace. In fact, apple pomace itself has a lot of potential applications other than further biochemical extraction processes. It can be used in further fermentations, used to make animal feed, compost material, etc. In the context of extracting biochemicals, apple pomace may be used to extract chemicals called pectins which are used in a variety of products and which have further potential uses. Therefore apple pomace can be processed for healthful materials such as fiber and minerals as well as biochemicals which include polyphenols and pectins [ 2. Djiles et al 2009 ].
The use of citrus waste from processing, similar to apple pomace, can also be valuable in extracting healthful biochemicals. From citrus fruits, the seeds, peels and stones can be recovered and have potential value. Citrus material also contain chemicals such as polyphenols, flavanoids, fibre, vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals. The citrus peels themselves constitute a large portion of citrus waste and are commonly processed into other chemicals (via fermentation). Other fruits such as berries also have healthful compounds known as anthocyanidins or proanthocyanidins. In general, the waste or pulp material from the fruit industry all contain healthful compounds which can be recovered and used as further health supplements or in other products. Another food processing area of interest in recovering waste material is shrimp cultivation. There are an increasing amount of inland shrimp facilities in the US, and shrimp cultivation is also increasing around the world due to receding coastlines in low altitude countries where shrimp farming can be substituted for rice cultivation. During shrimp processing the heads are often thrown away as well as the skins or tails sometimes. The processing of shrimp heads, tails and skins can recover a very usable biomaterial called chitin as well as produce shrimp hydrosylate from the decomposition of protein material. Shrimp waste can either be heat or chemically treated as well as go through fermentation with bacteria. The shrimp hydrosylate, full of proteins, could be similar to shrimp powder which is often used in a variety of Asian and Mexican foods. In fact, it has been shown that shrimp hydrosylate has a high protein content of around 80 % or more and also has a high essential amino acid content [ 3. Cao et al 2009 ]. Overall, the waste material from food processing can be further processed to bring forth more healthful compounds or other chemicals of interest that are used in our everyday products. They can be used in further fermentation processes which also produce other valuable biochemicals. Such recycling of materials such as grape or tomato waste can produce valuable neutraceuticals without using the whole fruit itself unnecessarily. Other compounds such as chitin or pectins can be recovered for biomaterials as well as recovering chemicals such as polyphenols or producing hydrosylate simultaneously.
1. "Modeling the stability of lycopene rich byproducts of tomato processing", Food Chemistry Vol 125 No 2 pgs 529-535 [2011] by V. Lavelli, MC Torresani
2. "By-Products of Fruits Processing as a source of Phytochemicals", Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly vol 15 No 4 pgs 191-202 [2009] by S. Djiles, V. Canadanovic-Brunet, G. Cotkovic
3. "Autolysis of shrimp head by gradual temperature and nutritional quality of the resulting hydrosylate", LWT - Food Science and Technology Vol 42 pgs 244-249 [2009] by W. Cao, C. Zhang, P.Hong, H. Ji, J. Hao, J.Zhang
KEYWORDS: Human Health Supplements from Food Processing Waste, Shrimp hydrosylate, Apple Pomace, Grape Must, Grape Seed Extract, Tomato Powder Extract, Lycopene, Polyphenols, Pectins, Chitin, Citrus peels, skins and stones, Biochemical Extraction of Food Processing Waste
