Classification and target compounds

Abstract

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Unsurprisingly, food production leads to the generation of many co-/by-products and waste material along the chain from collection through to various stages of processing and final manufacture. Such cogenerated products can pose environmental and economic problems thus reducing the profitability of the food industry. However, within the problem lies the solution, as these coproducts are rich in a variety of biomolecules of high relevance to the food and nonfood (e.g. pharmaceutical, cosmetic) industries and can command high value for the agro-food industry. In this chapter an overview is presented of some of the high added-value biomolecules identified in the different by-products generated by the most important industries (cereals, roots, tubers, pulses and oil crops, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and milk); the corresponding target compounds in each case as well as their potential applications in key sectors such as food, pharmaceutical, or biomedical are also outlined. The reader is guided to a number of relevant published articles for more in-depth descriptions, which are beyond the scope of this chapter.