Types Of Food Waste Research Articles

Eco-Friendly Facile Conversion of Waste Eggshells into CaO Nanoparticles for Environmental Applications.

Amongst the many types of food waste, eggshells contain various minerals and bioactive materials, and they can become hazardous if not properly disposed of. However, they can be made useful for the environment and people by being converted to environmentally friendly catalytic materials or environmental purification agents. Simple calcination can enhance their properties and thereby render them suitable for catalytic and environmental applications. This work aimed to prepare CaO from waste eggshells and examine its effectiveness in photocatalytic pollution remediation, electrocatalytic activity, optical sensing, and antibacterial activities. As opposed to other techniques, this calcination process does not require any chemical reagents due to the high purity of CaCO3 in eggshells. Calcium oxide nanoparticles were prepared by subjecting waste eggshells (ES) to high-temperature calcination, and the synthesized CaO nanoparticles were characterized for their structural, morphological, chemical, optical, and other properties. Furthermore, their photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye and antibacterial efficiency against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were investigated. It was found that the green-converted CaO can be efficiently used in environmental applications, showing good catalytic properties.

Utilizing Food Waste in 3D-Printed PLA Formulations to Achieve Sustainable and Customizable Controlled Delivery Systems.

This is the first study that explores blending polylactic acid (PLA) with various biomasses, including food wastes-brewer's spent grain (BSG), spent coffee grounds (SCG), sesame cake (SC), and thermoplastic starch (TPS) biomass to create composite gastric floating drug delivery systems (GFDDS) through 3D printing. The aim is to investigate the influence of biomass percentage, biomass type, and printing parameters on their corresponding drug release profiles. 3D-printed (3DP) composite filaments were prepared by blending biomasses and PLA before in vitro drug release studies were performed using hydrophilic and hydrophobic model drugs, metoprolol tartrate (MT), and risperidone (RIS). The data revealed that release profiles were influenced by composite compositions and wall thicknesses of 3DP GFDDS capsules. Up to 15% of food waste could be blended with PLA for all food waste types tested. Delivery studies for PLA-food wastes found that MT was fully released by 4 h, exhibiting burst release profiles after a lag time of 0.5 to 1.5 h, and RIS could achieve a sustained release profile of approximately 48 h. PLA-TPS was utilized as a comparison and demonstrated variable release profiles ranging from 8 to 120 h, depending on the TPS content. The results demonstrated the potential for adjusting drug release profiles by incorporating affordable biomasses into GFDDS. This study presents a promising direction for creating delivery systems that are sustainable, customizable, and cost-effective, utilizing sustainable materials that can also be employed for agricultural, nutraceutical, personal care, and wastewater treatment applications.

Food waste generation and its industrial utilization: An overview.

Food waste is produced for intended human consumption and is normally lost, discharged, contaminated, or finally degraded. The rising problem of food waste is increasing rapidly, so every sector is involved in minimizing food waste generation as well as waste management from collection to disposal, and scientists are developing the best eco-friendly and sustainable solutions for all sectors in the food supply chain, from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector and even up to the retailer to human consumption. Sustainable management is needed for the food wastes in the agricultural and industrial sectors, which are a major burning headache for environmentalists, health departments, and the government all over the earth. Various strategies can be employed to effectively control food waste, and these strategies can be ranked in a manner similar to the waste management hierarchy. The most desirable options involve the act of avoiding and donating edible portions to social agencies. Food waste is utilized in industrial operations to produce biofuels or biopolymers. The next stages involve the retrieval of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon through composting. The government implements appropriate management practices, laws, and orders to minimize food waste generation. Different contemporary methods are utilized to produce biofuel utilizing various types of food waste. In order for composting techniques to recover nutrients and fix carbon, food waste must be processed. Both the management of food waste and the creation of outgrowths utilizing biomaterials require additional study. This review aims to present a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing discourse surrounding the definitions of food waste, the production and implementation of methods to reduce it, the emergence of conversion technologies, and the most recent trends.

Valorization of Food Waste: Utilizing Natural Porous Materials Derived from Pomelo-Peel Biomass to Develop Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Energy Harvesting and Self-Powered Sensing.

Food waste is an enormous challenge, with implications for the environment, society, and economy. Every year around the world, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted or lost, and food waste-associated costs are around $2.6 trillion. Waste upcycling has been shown to mitigate these negative impacts. This study's optimized pomelo-peel biomass-derived porous material-based triboelectric nanogenerator (PP-TENG) had an open circuit voltage of 58 V and a peak power density of 254.8 mW/m2. As porous structures enable such triboelectric devices to respond sensitively to external mechanical stimuli, we tested our optimized PP-TENG's ability to serve as a self-powered sensor of biomechanical motions. As well as successfully harvesting sufficient mechanical energy to power light-emitting diodes and portable electronics, our PP-TENGs successfully monitored joint motions, neck movements, and gait patterns, suggesting their strong potential for use in healthcare monitoring and physical rehabilitation, among other applications. As such, the present work opens up various new possibilities for transforming a prolific type of food waste into value-added products and thus could enhance long-term sustainability while reducing such waste.

Biomass carbon quantum dots: Mimicking peroxidase-like activity and sensitive fluorometric and colorimetric detection of dopamine hydrochloride in meat products

Dopamine (DH), as a kind of "lean meat powder", is easily accumulated in animal tissues and further endangers the health of consumers. As a result, developing a quick, sensitive, and cost-effective approach for detecting DH concentration is critical to food safety. In this paper, fluorescent carbon quantum dot (CQDs) peroxidase mimetic enzymes with remarkable stability and high catalytic efficiency were produced utilizing a green synthesis technique from three types of food waste: corncob, sunflower seed husk, and grape seed. Then a colorimetric/fluorescent dual-mode sensor based on fluorescent CQDs was developed for the visual detection of dopamine hydrochloride in pork through changing the fluorescence brightness and color caused by its catalysis. The fluorescent CQDs generated from the three wastes were characterized, and the ones based on corncob performed the best as mimicked enzymes. Therefore, corncob fluorescent CQDs (CFCD) were used for the detection of DH. Under the optimal conditions, the linear range of DH measured by the fluorescent technique was 0.001–0.6 mmol/L (R2 = 0.9947), with a detection limit of 7.86 nmol/L. The linear range of DH measured by the colorimetric technique was 0.001–0.7 mmol/L (R2 = 0.9952), with a detection limit of 0.93 μmol/L. And with its high sensitivity and selectivity, it was successfully applied to the detection of DH in real samples. The developed CFCD concept may provide a novel method for the detection of DH. This comprehensive strategy promotes the high-efficiency conversion of biomass into CQDs and provides a theoretical basis for exploring the treatment of biomass waste.

Upcycling Food Waste into Biomaterials Applicable to Medical Products

Globally, an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A variety of waste streams constantly generate large amounts of food waste that end up in landfills. As food waste is left to naturally decay in landfills, it emits greenhouse gases that pollute the environment and induce climate change. However, most types of food waste contain valuable components that can be extracted to manufacture industrial products. Therefore, instead of abandoning food waste to decay and harm the environment, there is an alternative to upcycle it as a new raw materials supply source. This review provides a comprehensive update on how environmental sustainability can be improved using diverse types of food waste as sources to generate biomaterials for fabricating medical products, including lignin, cellulose, chitosan, pectin, collagen, hydroxyapatite, and biodegradable polymers. The review also highlights biochemical technologies applied for extracting useful components from food waste and details the current advances for developing medical products, including wound dressings and nanoparticles for tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Household Food Waste in Morocco: An Exploratory Survey in the Province of Kenitra

The data from the United Nations Food Waste Index 2021 suggest that food losses and waste represent a pressing challenge, even in developing countries. This study investigates food waste in Morocco, specifically focusing on Kenitra province (northwestern Morocco). It quantifies the food waste types and quantities in Kenitra households and explores the underlying causes. Conducted in 2022, the research involved 442 respondents aged 18 and above, utilizing both face-to-face and online surveys. The findings reveal bread as the most wasted item, with minimal waste of meat and cereals. On average, households discard 361 g of bread per week, 98 g of fresh produce, and 9 g of cheese. The primary causes of food waste are difficulties in reusing small leftovers (32%), followed by challenges in meal preparation with available ingredients (34%). This study underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions to address food waste effectively in Kenitra. By shedding light on waste dynamics and causes, it contributes to understanding this critical issue and offers valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders working to implement strategies for reducing food waste and promoting sustainable consumption practices.

The future in the litter bin - bioconversion of food waste as driver of a circular bioeconomy.

Bioconversion of organic waste requires the development and application of rather simple, yet robust technologies capable of transferring biomass into energy and sustainable materials for the future. Food waste plays a significant role in this process as its valorisation reduces waste and at the same time avoids additional exploitation of primary resources. Nonetheless, to literally become "litterate". extensive research into such robust large-scale methods is required. Here, we highlight some promising avenues and materials which fulfill these "waste to value" requirements, from various types of food waste as sustainable sources for biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel to fertilizers and antioxidants from grape pomace, from old-fashioned fermentation to the magic of anaerobic digestion.

Biochelates from Spent Coffee Grounds Increases Iron Levels in Dutch Cucumbers but Affects Their Antioxidant Capacity.

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are a type of food waste and are produced in abundance around the world. However, their utilization as a soil organic amendment is challenging due to their phytotoxic effect. In the present work, the impact of agronomic biofortification on Dutch cucumbers was investigated using different chemically modified SCG and analyzing their effects on iron contents, their capacity for releasing antioxidants, and the production of short-chain fatty acids after in vitro digestion-fermentation. The results indicated variations in the iron contents and chemical compositions of cucumbers according to the treatment groups. Functionalized and activated hydrochar from SCG increased Fe levels in cucumbers. Although activated hydrochar obtained at 160 °C and functionalized with Fe showed the highest iron supply per serving, differences in antioxidant capacity and short-chain fatty acid production were observed between the groups. It is concluded that growing conditions and the presence of iron may significantly influence the contribution of these cucumbers to the dietary intake of nutrients and antioxidants, which could have important implications for human health and nutrition.

Study on the removal efficacy and mechanism of phosphorus from wastewater by eggshell-modified biochar.

The excessive discharge of phosphorus from rural domestic sewage is a problem that worthy of attention. If the phosphorus in the sewage were recovered, addressing this issue could significantly contribute to mitigating the global phosphorus crisis. In this study, corn straw, a common agricultural waste, was co-pyrolytically modified with eggshells, a type of food waste from university cafeterias. The resulting product, referred to as corn straw eggshell biochar (EGBC) was characterized using SEM, XRD, XPS, XRF, and other methods. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to determine the optimal preparation conditions of EGBC and to explore its adsorption characteristics. EGBC showed strong adsorption effectiveness within a pH range of 5-12. The adsorption isotherm closely followed the Sips model (R2 > 0.9011), and the adsorption kinetics were more consistent with the pseudo-second-order model (R2 > 0.9899). The process was found to be both spontaneous and endothermic. Under optimal conditions, the phosphorus adsorption capacity of EGBC was measured to be 288.83 mg/g. This demonstrates the high efficiency of EGBC for phosphorus removal and illustrates an effective method of utilizing food waste for environmental remediation. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Biochar prepared from waste eggshell was used to removal and recovery phosphorus in wastewater treatment. EGBC has an impressive adsorption capacity that can reach up to 288.83 mg/g. EGBC has excellent adsorption and filtration capabilities, and there is a sudden increase in concentration at 900 min in the breakthrough curve of EGBC. EGBC has good regeneration performance, with an adsorption effect of 65% and an adsorption capacity of 121 mg/g after four desorption and regeneration cycles.

Comprehensive mapping of food loss and food waste: Insights from a systematic literature review

This research aims to comprehensively map the stages at which food materials are discarded as food loss and food waste, drawing insights from existing literature. This study employs a systematic literature review methodology-the works of literature collected from reputable international journal databases. The findings of this investigation reveal a diverse array of research endeavors within the realm of food waste management. Researchers have undertaken endeavors to categorize different types of food waste, while others have delved into examining food resilience and waste generation in agricultural phases or amongst farmers. Distinct studies have concentrated on food resilience and waste issues encompassing traditional market traders. The academic community has also directed attention towards food waste in harvest, retail sales, followed by the hospitality industry, restaurant management, and household settings. The outcomes of this systematic literature review offer a foundational framework for delineating food waste patterns across agricultural, traditional market, retail, restaurant, hotel, and household contexts. Subsequent empirical research is poised to focus on categorizing food waste by type, identifying root causes, exploring mitigation efforts, and elucidating waste management strategies enacted by farmers, traditional market traders, retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and households.

An insight into the utilization of microbial biosurfactants pertaining to their industrial applications in the food sector.

Microbial biosurfactants surpass synthetic alternatives due to their biodegradability, minimal toxicity, selective properties, and efficacy across a wide range of environmental conditions. Owing to their remarkable advantages, biosurfactants employability as effective emulsifiers and stabilizers, antimicrobial and antioxidant attributes, rendering them for integration into food preservation, processing, formulations, and packaging. The biosurfactants can also be derived from various types of food wastes. Biosurfactants are harnessed across multiple sectors within the food industry, ranging from condiments (mayonnaise) to baked goods (bread, muffins, loaves, cookies, and dough), and extending into the dairy industry (cheese, yogurt, and fermented milk). Additionally, their impact reaches the beverage industry, poultry feed, seafood products like tuna, as well as meat processing and instant foods, collectively redefining each sector's landscape. This review thoroughly explores the multifaceted utilization of biosurfactants within the food industry as emulsifiers, antimicrobial, antiadhesive, antibiofilm agents, shelf-life enhancers, texture modifiers, and foaming agents.

Laboratory-adapted and wild-type black soldier flies express differential plasticity in bioconversion and nutrition when reared on urban food waste streams.

The black soldier fly (BSF) offers a potential solution to address shortages of feed and food sources; however, selecting effective rearing substrates remains a major hurdle in BSF farming. In an urban area like Singapore, current practice is based on rearing BSF on homogeneous waste streams (e.g., spent brewery grains or okara) because heterogeneous food wastes (e.g., mixed kitchen/canteen waste or surplus cooked food) present several operational challenges with respect to the standardization of development, nutritional content, and harvesting. In this study, we compared two genetic strains of BSF larvae (wild-type and laboratory-adapted line) in a bioconversion experiment with diverse types of food waste (homogeneous/heterogeneous; plant/meat) and we quantified the phenotypic plasticity. Our results demonstrate different plasticity in bioconversion performance, larval growth and larval nutrition between the two BSF lines. This difference may be attributed to the selective breeding the laboratory-adapted line has experienced. Notably, larval lipid content displayed little to no genetic variation for plasticity compared with larval protein and carbohydrate content. Despite variation in larval development, heterogeneous food wastes can produce better performance in bioconversion, larval growth, and larval nutrient content than homogeneous food waste. All-meat diets result in high larvae mortality but larval survival could be rescued by mixing meat with plant-based food wastes. Overall, we suggest using mixed meals for BSF larvae feeding. Targeted breeding may be a promising strategy for the BSF industry but it is important to consider the selection effects on plasticity in larval nutrition carefully. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Biorefinery solutions for food processing wastes: A sustainable bioeconomic perspective

Food waste is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases (mostly methane) that causes environmental devastation. Further, nearly onethird of produced food goes to wastage during the supply chain and harvesting process. These can contribute to a yearly loss of US$ 1 trillion. Considering these, there is a great concern all over the world regarding sustainable solutions for food waste minimization. For instance, the beverage, dairy, fruit and vegetable, and cereal industries create 26%, 21%, 14.8%, and 12.8% of food wastes, respectively. Such food waste is rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates, and so on, providing the possibility of fermentative products. Also, these food wastes are very homogeneous, which means they have a great potential for usage as feedstock in biorefineries (BRs), thereby greatly reducing the massive environmental load and offering sustainable resources to produce value-added products/chemicals like β-carotene, polyhydroxyalkanoates, lycopene, eicosapentaenoic acid, triacylglycerol (precursor for biodiesel) and so on. Food waste BR is a state-of-the-art facility that processes various types of food waste into useful value-added products. Food production in the EU (European Union) produces nearly 30 million tonnes of inedible food wastes per year. This value is expected to rise as the food processing business grows at a 4.3% CAGR from 2019 to 2024, hitting $4.1 trillion. Collectively, food waste BRs have great potential to empower circular bioeconomy, support fabrication sustainability, and solve environmental challenges. This review provides a distinctive overview of the latest developments in cutting-edge technologies for the bioconversion of food waste, as well as an in-depth analysis of each process, and critical aspects on development of sustainable biorefinery solutions for food processing wastes along with circular bioeconomy.

A co-ensiling strategy of food wastes: Peanut shell as an additive to distillers' grains to improve efficiency of energy conversion

The quality of ensiling is greatly influenced by the utilization rate of organic matter in the ensiling system. Peanut shell (PS) and distillers' grains (DG) are common and abundant types of food waste. To investigate the optimal carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio for co-ensiling, PS was added to DG at various C/N ratios: C/N20 (PD20), C/N25 (PD25), C/N30 (PD30), and C/N35 (PD35). The findings revealed that PD25 achieved the highest utilization rate of organic matter. PD25 exhibited a minimal organic dry matter loss of only 2.02% and a lactic acid yield of 48.04 g/kg of dry matter, which was significantly different from the other groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, employing C/N25 effectively optimized and enhanced the stability of the microbial community structure. With improved organic matter utilization, PD25 exhibited a 33.68% increase in methane production and a 36.11% increase in energy output after ensiling. Taking into account the organic matter loss during ensiling, PD25 attained a methane yield of 187.85 mL/g of organic dry matter, surpassing that of the other treatment groups. These results present novel insights for the high-value utilization of food waste.

Food Waste and Survival in Times of the Soviet Famines in Ukraine

This article focuses on the interconnections and interrelations between food, waste, people and state during a series of survival crises in the famines of 1921–3, 1932–3 and 1946–7 in Soviet Ukraine. Owing to grain and food requisitions, the collectivization of agriculture and rationing, as part of the state's growing control over the flow of economic resources from the 1920s to the 1940s, discarded food acquired particular importance for people's survival during these times of extremes. Focusing on both individual and institutional levels of waste production and regulation, this study explores the role of food waste in the survival practices of the starving and traces the development of their individual resourcefulness and interconnectedness with wider social and natural environments. The article explores different types of food waste, including husks, leftover food, carrion and spoiled and rotten food and the spaces of its collection. By ‘following’ the traces of waste in urban and rural landscapes, including, among others, dumpsters, slaughterhouses, cattle cemeteries and railway stations, the article brings into focus the critical changes in human–food, human–waste and human–nature relationships in times of extremes.

A comprehensive review on current trends and development of biomethane production from food waste: Circular economy and techno economic analysis

Biogas production from food waste with anaerobic digestion process and co-digestion process obtained high purity of biogas. Food waste consists of proteins, carbohydrates, inorganic compounds, fibre, sugars, and lipids. Fossil fuels have caused some environmental and human health problems, such as effects of global warming, greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas production is a simple process and is purified into methane and used in many applications, heat, electricity and vehicle fuel. Different types of food waste are collected and processed into biogas, which is essential for human use and as an alternative to fossil fuels. The collection of food waste, pre-treatment process, production of biogas, purification of biogas, upgradation of biomethane, and circular bioeconomy are clearly explained. Anaerobic digestion and co-digestion processes have increased biomethane yield, up gradation and purification of biogas have also been discussed. Five different types of upgradation processes are included, such as physical scrubbing, chemical scrubbing, pressure swing adsorption, membrane separation, and cryogenic separation. The upgradation process and the purity level also mentioned in this review, it represents the biomethane quality. Techno economic effects and circular bioeconomy levels are addressed in this review. Life cycle assessment, life cycle impact analysis and environmental impact level are discussed. However, Challenges and future perspectives of biogas production and to improve the biomethane purity level. 89% of the biogas production is obtained from fruit waste with anaerobic digestion, after the upgradation process, 99% purity of biomethane is separated.

Navigating practical applications of food waste valorisation based on the effects of food waste origins and storage conditions

Food wastes used as feedstock in biorefineries are of both research and market interest for solving related environmental issues and valorising to value-added products. However, the distinct conditions and characteristics governing the valorisation of different types of food waste remain to be addressed, such as different origins and storage conditions of food wastes. In this study, the characteristics of four types of food waste (student canteen waste, bakery waste, Chinese food waste, and Western food waste) after designed storage experiments (storage temperature − 4°C, 25 °C, and 35 °C; storage duration 1–3 days) were first investigated, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain food waste hydrolysates that can be applied to microalgal fermentation. The results showed that the characteristics of the food wastes and their corresponding hydrolysates differed based on their origins. Furthermore, cultivation of the microalgae Euglena gracilis demonstrated the feasibility of using food waste hydrolysates as the sole nutrient source, and both the origin and storage conditions of food wastes were found to affect microalgal growth and paramylon production. Possible inhibitors that could account for the different performances of food waste hydrolysates were identified by untargeted metabolite analysis. In summary, this study provides insights into the application of different types of food waste under complex conditions in biorefineries and the utilisation of their hydrolysates via in-depth metabolite analysis.

Fungal Hydrolysis of Food Waste: Review of used Substrates, Conditions, and Microorganisms

Food production generates significant amounts of organic waste that can have negative effects on the environment, such as water, soil and air pollution, due to lack of efficient utilisation solutions and insufficient disposal practices. Fungi have great enzymeproducing abilities that can be used for hydrolysing various types of food waste. Carried out in optimal conditions, fungal hydrolysis of generated food waste can be fast and efficient. Currently, fungal hydrolysis capacity for waste treatment has only been briefly demonstrated in previous studies. This review focuses on and summarizes different practises showing the potential of fungal hydrolysis for the use inefficient resource management. The main accent was put on what organisms and waste have been used in previously conducted studies. In addition, temperature, pH level and glucose recovery yields were reviewed. It was concluded that food waste can be efficiently hydrolysed and used as substrates for downstream production of value-added products. The optimal temperature for fungal hydrolysis is above 45 °C, and optimal pH level can differ depending on the process. The possibility of fungal strain optimization and creation of the enzymeproducing mutant, as well as the use of other GRAS fungi should be investigated. To explore a wider range of waste residues, researchers must collaborate with manufacturers to conduct tests and valorise new residues for fungal hydrolysis.

Valorization of Food Waste to Produce Value-Added Products Based on Its Bioactive Compounds

The rapid growth of the global population and changes in lifestyle have led to a significant increase in food waste from various industrial, agricultural, and household sources. Nearly one-third of the food produced annually is wasted, resulting in severe resource depletion. Food waste contains rich organic matter, which, if not managed properly, can pose a serious threat to the environment and human health, making the proper disposal of food waste an urgent global issue. However, various types of food waste, such as waste from fruit, vegetables, grains, and other food production and processing, contain important bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, dietary fiber, proteins, lipids, vitamins, organic acids, and minerals, some of which are found in greater quantities in the discarded parts than in the parts accepted by the market. These bioactive compounds offer the potential to convert food waste into value-added products, and fields including nutritional foods, bioplastics, bioenergy, biosurfactants, biofertilizers, and single cell proteins have welcomed food waste as a novel source. This review reveals the latest insights into the various sources of food waste and the potential of utilizing bioactive compounds to convert it into value-added products, thus enhancing people’s confidence in better utilizing and managing food waste.