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Food Byproducts as Sustainable Ingredients for Innovative and Healthy Foods

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Security and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2026) | Viewed by 2605

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sonia Bonacci

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Guest Editor

Department of Health Sciences, University "Magna Graecia" of Catanzaro, Campus Universitario "S. Venuta", Catanzaro, Italy
Interests: food waste recovery; antioxidants; chromatography; mass spectrometry; food chemistry; natural products, food analysis

Dr. Alessandra De Bruno

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Guest Editor

Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University, Rome, Italy
Interests: antioxidant activity; polyphenols; chromatography; food analysis; antioxidants; food chemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At present, consumers have increasingly focused their attention on food quality and its correlation with nutrition. Moreover, the increasing focus on sustainability and the circular economy in the agri-food sector has led to growing interest in the valorization of food byproducts. These materials, often considered waste, are rich in bioactive compounds, fibers, proteins, and other valuable nutrients that can be reintroduced into the food chain as functional and health-promoting ingredients.

This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality research articles and reviews on the innovative utilization of food byproducts for the development of new, sustainable, and nutritionally enhanced food products. Key topics of interest include advanced extraction methods, functional and nutritional characterization, technological applications, sensory evaluation, and consumer acceptance of byproduct-enriched foods. By integrating scientific, technological, and nutritional insights, this Special Issue seeks to promote strategies that reduce food waste, enhance food quality, and support environmental sustainability.

The Special Issue is open to all contributions aimed at investigating the recovery of valuable compounds from agri-food wastes and byproducts targeting their nutraceutical and food application.

Dr. Sonia Bonacci
Dr. Alessandra De Bruno
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

bioactive compounds
food wastes
food byproducts
compound recovery
food enrichment
nutrients
food chemistry

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3115 KB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Green Rice Husk Dietary Fiber and Hydrocolloids on the Physicochemical, Structural, Bioactive, and Sensory Properties of Gummy Products

by Tipaukson Chaikwang, Hua Li and Sirithon Siriamornpun

Foods 2026, 15(7), 1114; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15071114 - 24 Mar 2026

Viewed by 494

Abstract

Green rice husk dietary fiber (GHDF) is an underutilized agricultural by-product with promising potential for applications in the food industry. This study investigated the effects of incorporating dietary fiber from GHDF at 1%, 3%, and 5% together with different hydrocolloids, including xanthan gum (XG), carrageenan (CC), and guar gum (GG), on the physical and chemical, textural properties, and consumer acceptance of gummy products. The results showed that adding more GHDF increased the nutritional value of the gummies, with total dietary fiber ranging from 1.01 to 5.02 g per 100 g of product. FTIR results also showed that fiber from green rice husk was present in the gummies. The combined addition of GHDF and hydrocolloids also affected the internal gel structure of the products. This interaction made the gel structure stronger, resulting in firmer gummies with greater hardness, gumminess, and chewiness. In addition, higher GHDF levels contributed to reduced syneresis. Among the hydrocolloids tested, xanthan gum produced the strongest gel, while the formulation with 3% GG received the highest consumer liking scores. These results suggest that GHDF could be used as a useful ingredient to develop food products with higher nutritional value and better use of agricultural by-products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Byproducts as Sustainable Ingredients for Innovative and Healthy Foods)

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20 pages, 10312 KB

Open AccessArticle

On the Road to Salt Liberation: The Effect of Including Oyster Mushrooms and Sylvinite on the Quality of Traditional Beef Patties

by Gaston Sepulveda-Truan, Johanan Espinosa-Ramírez, Viridiana Tejada-Ortigoza, Rommy Díaz, Nestor Sepúlveda, Leonardo Almonacid, Ailin Martínez, Erick Scheuermann, Ruben Domínguez-Valencia and John Quiñones

Foods 2026, 15(6), 1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15061013 - 13 Mar 2026

Viewed by 480

Abstract

This study evaluated the technological and sensory effects of incorporating oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) powder and sylvinite as strategies to reduce salt content in beef patties while maintaining product quality. A 4 × 4 full factorial design was implemented to develop sixteen distinct formulations, evaluating the interaction between four levels of mushroom powder (0, 3, 5, and 10% w/w) as a partial meat replacer and four levels of sylvinite (0, 0.5, 1, and 2% w/w) as a NaCl substitute. To establish a baseline for comparison, control samples were prepared without sylvinite, with a fixed concentration of 1% NaCl. Patties were produced with low-fat content (6%), formed into 100 g portions, and evaluated in raw and cooked states. Physicochemical analyses included color (CIE L*, a*, b*), cooking yield, shrinkage, and texture profile analysis, while sensory quality was assessed by an expert panel and complemented with consumer discriminative tests, specifically a triangle test. Multivariate analysis revealed that mushroom powder significantly influenced color parameters, increasing redness and yellowness, whereas sylvinite tended to reduce color intensity; however, their interaction mitigated these effects at intermediate inclusion levels. Mushroom incorporation improved cooking yield and reduced hardness, particularly at 3–5% inclusion, enhancing elasticity and cohesiveness. Sensory results indicated that formulations containing 3–5% mushroom powder and up to 2% sylvinite achieved high overall acceptability. Consumer tests confirmed that these formulations effectively modulated saltiness and texture perception. Overall, the combined use of oyster mushroom powder and sylvinite represents a viable approach for developing reduced-sodium beef patties with acceptable technological and sensory properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Byproducts as Sustainable Ingredients for Innovative and Healthy Foods)

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18 pages, 1754 KB

Open AccessArticle

Upcycling Strategies to Improve the Nutritional Value of Staple Food

by Chiara Russo, Matteo Alessandro Del Nobile and Amalia Conte

Foods 2026, 15(4), 620; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15040620 - 9 Feb 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 466

Abstract

This study investigates four agri-food by-products from broccoli, artichokes, asparagus, and pumpkin, processed into powders through either an industrial or a lab-scale drying and milling process. The resulting powders were evaluated for their nutritional characteristics, revealing that industrial processing generally produced higher-quality powders, likely due to improved moisture removal and reduced thermal damage. Consequently, the four industrial powders were selected for use in the fortification of pasta and gnocchi, which were then analyzed for their nutritional profile in terms of total polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant activity, and dietary fiber content. To facilitate a comprehensive comparison, a global quality index (GQI) was developed to integrate the different parameters. The index accounted not only for the nutritional enhancement provided by each by-product but also for the potential sensory drawbacks associated with fortification, such as color changes, texture modifications, or flavor impacts. This dual weighting allowed for a balanced evaluation of feasibility and acceptability. The GQI enabled the identification of artichoke as the most suitable by-product for each fortified food matrix, as well as gnocchi, between the two products, as the best overall response to fortification. This approach provides a structured method for selecting optimal by-product ingredients and offers valuable insights for future upcycling strategies aimed at improving the nutritional quality of staple foods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Byproducts as Sustainable Ingredients for Innovative and Healthy Foods)

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21 pages, 905 KB

Open AccessArticle

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fermentation of Pomegranate Peel By-Product Yields Tannin-Rich Extracts and Potentially Prebiotic Polysaccharides

by Mohamad Khatib, Lorenzo Cecchi, Beatrice Zonfrillo, Silvia D’Agostino, Davide Bertelli, Eleonora Truzzi, Elia Pagliarini, Diana Di Gioia, Maria Bellumori and Nadia Mulinacci

Foods 2026, 15(4), 605; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15040605 - 7 Feb 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 591

Abstract

Pomegranate peel, accounting for 35–50% of the fruit weight, is an underutilized agri-food by-product. This study applied, for the first time, fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a simple and sustainable strategy to simultaneously obtain tannin-rich extracts and polysaccharide fractions with potential prebiotic activity. Peels from two cultivars, Wonderful and G1, differing in peel thickness, were subjected to three fermentation protocols (air- and not air-exposed) and monitored at 25 °C over 48 and 72 h. HPLC-DAD analysis showed that yeast-inoculated fermentation increased total tannin concentration in dry extracts (up to 70%) without inducing chemical modifications to tannin profiles. As determined by Dynamic Light Scattering, fermentation promoted significant depolymerization of native polysaccharides, while DOSY-¹H-NMR analyses revealed the presence of reduced molecular weight fractions down to 26 kDa. In vitro growth assays confirmed that fermented polysaccharides were more efficiently utilized as a carbon source by Bifidobacterium breve and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum compared to non-fermented controls, likely thanks to polysaccharide depolymerization induced by fermentation. The study demonstrated that air-exposed S. cerevisiae fermentation was an effective process alternative to chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis for modifying pomegranate peel pectin directly within a complex matrix, while simultaneously enhancing tannin recovery. This approach represents a possible sustainable strategy for pomegranate peel valorization into functional ingredients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Byproducts as Sustainable Ingredients for Innovative and Healthy Foods)

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