{"id":172658,"date":"2026-01-28T07:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=172658"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:43:39","slug":"innovation-turns-food-waste-into-healthy-nutritional-supplements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/innovation-turns-food-waste-into-healthy-nutritional-supplements\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation turns food waste into healthy nutritional supplements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Peels, pulp, and shells pile up across kitchens and food factories, quietly carrying antioxidants and other useful ingredients straight to the trash.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9\u00a0Earth.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As food waste keeps climbing worldwide, pressure is growing to make better use of what we already have instead of producing more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists are now looking closely at those leftovers<\/a>, asking how valuable compounds can be recovered safely and at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Afyon Kocatepe University<\/a>, food engineers led by Aslihan Tugen, Ph.D., reviewed recent techniques for extracting nutrients from food scraps. The goal is turning waste into food ingredients, supplements, and even packaging materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food waste keeps growing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Food waste is not a small or distant problem, and most of it happens at home. In 2022, retail, food service, and households together wasted about 1.16 billion tons of food worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Households alone accounted for roughly 696 million tons, showing how changes in shopping, storage, and meal planning can quickly add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, once food spoils<\/a>, saving it is no longer possible. That reality puts prevention first, but it also highlights the need to deal better with the waste that cannot be avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governments now link food waste reduction to climate and resource goals, increasing pressure on industry to rethink leftovers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve food waste by 2030, sets a clear deadline. Meeting that target starts with buying and wasting less, but it also includes using unavoidable by-products more wisely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many companies describe this as upcycling \u2013 turning waste into higher-value products \u2013 but those efforts fail when quality, timing, and consistency are ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrients trapped in food scraps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many plant-based scraps still contain valuable bioactive compounds, molecules that can affect cells and microbes in the body even after food processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tough cell walls often lock these compounds into fibers, meaning simple squeezing or rinsing leaves much of their potential unused. Among the most studied are phenolic compounds, plant chemicals common in peels that can help slow damage caused by oxygen reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These compounds are fragile. Heat, light, and long delays can break them down, making fast, gentle handling critical once food becomes waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To overcome these barriers, processors often reshape scraps before extraction. Grinding, drying, or separating materials makes them more uniform and easier to process. From there, newer techniques aim to release compounds without destroying them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In ultrasound-assisted extraction, sound waves create tiny bubbles that rupture plant<\/a> tissues, allowing more compounds to dissolve into liquid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microwave-assisted extraction uses rapid internal heating to loosen cell walls, reducing both solvent use and processing time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These methods can protect sensitive antioxidants, but settings still need careful adjustment to match each mixed and unpredictable waste stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microbes that transform leftovers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some upcycling approaches rely less on machines and more on microbes. Through microbial fermentation, bacteria or fungi<\/a> convert sugars and fibers into acids, gases, or enzymes, often increasing bioactivity along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers also explore pairing plant extracts with probiotics, live microbes that can support gut health, to help stabilize certain phenolic compounds and extend their usefulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because each microbial strain behaves differently, producers need extensive testing before claiming reliable effects in foods or supplements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning food waste into new products<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once recovered, antioxidants and other compounds can reenter the supply chain in new forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe process has been shown to enable the development of functional food ingredients, nutraceuticals (health-promoting food supplements), and biodegradable packaging solutions,\u201d said Tugen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In bread trials, antioxidant<\/a> extracts recovered from onion waste increased measured antioxidant activity, showing how by-products can enhance everyday foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar compounds may replace some synthetic additives, though flavor, color, and texture still limit how much can be added without changing the final product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The risks behind food scraps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Outside the lab, food waste rarely arrives clean. Safety starts with sorting, removing plastics, and storing materials correctly before any extraction begins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretreatment steps, such as washing, grinding, or drying, help reduce contamination and improve yield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixed scraps also contain fats and proteins<\/a>, which can trap odors and spoil quickly during transport. Without tight controls, these factors can undo even the most efficient extraction method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOvercoming safety risks, optimising extraction processes, and implementing global policies supporting food waste recycling are key to making sustainable solutions more effective and widespread,\u201d said Tugen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scaling past perfect leftovers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lab tests often focus on a single type of peel or pomace. In contrast, real factories must deal with mixed, unpredictable waste streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2025 review screened 107 studies and examined 56 in detail, highlighting how methods that work cleanly in the lab can struggle when scraps vary from day to day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even promising green techniques may require constant adjustments in processing time and temperature, raising both technical and cost challenges. As a result, companies increasingly rely on life-cycle assessment to weigh environmental impacts from start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, the research shows that reducing food waste works best when prevention is paired with smart extraction, fermentation<\/a>, and thoughtful product design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term progress will depend on consistent waste collection, strict safety standards, and business models that reward turning leftovers into valuable ingredients rather than discarding them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study is published in the Czech Journal of Food Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peels, pulp, and shells pile up across kitchens and food factories, quietly carrying antioxidants and other useful ingredients straight to the trash. As food waste keeps climbing worldwide, pressure is growing to make better use of what we already have instead of producing more.\u00a0 Scientists are now looking closely at those leftovers, asking how valuable compounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":172660,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Every day, huge amounts of food waste is tossed out, even though much of it still contains compounds linked to human health and nutrition","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[5838,10416,13818,10453],"supplier":[27461],"class_list":["post-172658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recycling","tag-bioeconomy","tag-circulareconomy","tag-foodwaste","tag-recycling","supplier-afyon-kocatepe-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172658"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=172658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}