Future Foods (Jun 2024)
Recovery of valuable substances from food waste by ohmic heating assisted extraction -A step towards sustainable production
Abstract
The food sector produces immense amounts of waste daily, which is a great threat to the food system's sustainability. The great volume of waste generated by the food sector is a valuable source of different essential substances. The conversion of tonnes of waste into valuable substances by using various innovative ‘green’ technologies is a novel approach. Ohmic heating is a sustainable and green technology based on the utilization of electric energy, which is converted into thermal energy to heat the substance. It has wide-ranging applications in the food sector, particularly for processing i.e. as pasteurization, sterilization, blanching, extraction, and many more. It is a high energy-efficient technology, which requires less processing time and allows precise control of temperature, which makes it suitable for various purposes. Ohmic heating-assisted extraction (OHAE), an innovative approach, presents an opportunity to extract numerous valuable substances from waste materials by the application of electric current. This review provides a critical assessment of investigations centered on the recovery of various substances by the implementation of OHAE from waste materials of fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish, and cereals. The impact of various parameters used in OHAE on the effectiveness of the extraction process and yield of extracted products are discussed. The substances extracted from these waste materials encompass bioactive compounds, pectin, essential oils, proteins, and cellulose fibers, all of which find substantial applications in the food and related industries. Overall, the implementation of ohmic heating, either alone or in combination with other novel technologies, is very effective for the extraction of valuable substances from the waste of the food industries.
