Chapter 5 - Valuable bioactives from vegetable wastes

Abstract

Vegetables are used as an important source of food, and also generates a huge amount of waste annually during various stages of the agricultural process or in the food industries. If vegetable waste is not processed properly it can lead to contamination of the environment, which has led to the search for a green effect. Vegetable wastes or their byproducts contain a large number of primary (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, etc.) and secondary metabolites (flavonoids, polyphenols, carotenoids, etc.) with potential therapeutic efficacy such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticancer, and cardioprotective activities. Valorization of vegetable byproducts through various processes makes them a potential source of nutraceuticals, food ingredients, functional foods, food additives, and cosmetic products, along with enabling a reduction in environmental contamination. Since most of medicinal plants were also cultivated for production of these bioactives, valorization of vegetable wastes and byproducts serves as an alternate and cheaper source for their procurement, along with the protection of endangered plant species. This chapter enumerates the important vegetable wastes and byproducts with potentially important bioactives and their valorization. It also focuses on the applications of various vegetable byproducts in food industries and the healthcare sector, vegetable preservation methods and extraction and isolation, as well as the sustainability of vegetable wastes.