Banana Pseudostem: An Undiscovered Fiber Enriched Sustainable Functional Food

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs a tropical fruit, the banana is one of the favorite fruits, and the banana herb only bears fruit once in its lifespan; it is chopped off after harvesting, and only 40% of it is adequately utilized, leaving the remaining 60% as trash rich in cellulose, hemicellulose, and natural fibers. The pseudostem accounts for 75% of the waste, with the rest accounting for 25%. The purpose of this paper is to raise important awareness about the bioactive chemicals found in banana pseudostems hence they can be considered as sustainable foods and their applications as culinary raw materials and in other sectors. Even though bulk waste is biodegradable, it causes many problems in our environment, so sustainable waste usage with proper management and utilization of the residues can not only help in the utilization of the bioactive and nutrient compounds present but also increase the economic and environmental issues associated with the problem. The banana pseudostem is used in various businesses as culinary ingredients, fibers, and hazardous removers. Even when used for heavy metal treatment in wastewater, the fiber in it is strong enough to manufacture cardboard and food packaging materials. Some pseudostem types can even be extracted for pectin and used as food additives. The powdered pseudostem is used to boost the nutritional content of numerous recipes. In summary, the banana pseudostem can be divided into two first the central core part that can be used as food raw material and other outer sheaths in various different industries.

Keywords

• Banana waste-loss
• sustainable usage
• pseudostem
• fiber
• therapeutic value
• climate change