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Published on: July 18, 2025
Converting Food Waste into Value-Added Products: A Review on Current Technologies, Challenges, and Future
1Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimenti, Risorse Naturali e Ingegneria (DAFNE), Università degli Studi di Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71122 Foggia, Italy.
Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Food waste is a major global challenge, but circular bioeconomy approaches can transform it into valuable products like biofuels and functional food ingredients. This review explores innovative conversion strategies and future research needs for a sustainable bioeconomy.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Biotechnology
- Food Science
Background:
- Food waste presents significant environmental, economic, and social challenges, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and food insecurity.
- Approximately one-third of global food production is lost or wasted annually.
- Circular bioeconomy concepts offer a paradigm shift, viewing food waste as a valuable resource.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically review current strategies for converting food waste into value-added products.
- To examine emerging technologies and applications in the circular bioeconomy.
- To identify challenges and future research directions for sustainable food waste valorization.
Main Methods:
- Review of green extraction technologies (biochemical, thermochemical, enzymatic, microbial).
- Analysis of agri-food by-products (fruit pomace, vegetable residues, oilseed meals, dairy by-products).
- Discussion of emerging developments (biorefineries, AI, synthetic biology, carbon-neutral systems).
Main Results:
- Food waste can be converted into biofuels, bioplastics, bioactive compounds, functional ingredients, and prebiotics.
- Waste-derived fibers, antioxidants, and polyphenols have applications in functional foods, particularly bakery products.
- Advances in biorefinery concepts and digital technologies are enhancing waste valorization.
Conclusions:
- Converting food waste into high-value products is crucial for a circular bioeconomy.
- Addressing challenges in feedstock, scalability, regulation, and economics is essential for widespread adoption.
- Further research is needed to support resilient and sustainable bioeconomy systems.
Keywords:
agri-food by-productsbioactive compoundsbiorefinerycircular bioeconomyfunctional ingredientsgreen extraction technologiesresource recoverysustainabilitytechnology readiness levelwaste-to-valueMore Related Videos
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