Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products: 5th Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Food waste (FW) is a global problem that has received increasing public and political attention in recent years. This problem will only become more significant in the coming years, especially considering the increase in food demand due to the growing global population. Food is a precious commodity, and its production can be resource-intensive. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food loss (FL) is defined as “the decrease in quantity or quality of food”. Food waste is part of food loss and refers to the discarding or alternative (non-food) use of food that is safe and nutritious for human consumption along the entire food supply chain, from primary production to end-household consumer level. The European Project FUSIONS defines FW as “any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from (lost to or diverted from) the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed of (including composted, crops plowed in/not harvested, anaerobic digestion, bio-energy production, co-generation, incineration, disposal to sewer, landfill or discarded to sea)”. According to the FAO, nearly 1.3 billion tons of food products per year are lost along the food supply chain, and in the next 25 years, the amount of food waste is projected to increase exponentially.

Currently, most food wastes are recycled, mainly as animal feed and compost. The remaining quantities are incinerated and disposed of in landfills, causing serious emissions of methane (CH₄), which is 23-times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a greenhouse gas and significantly contributes to climate change. The social impacts of FL and FW may be ascribed with ethical and moral dimensions within the general concept of global food security. Economic impacts are due to the costs related to food wastage and their effects on farmers and consumer incomes.

The EU waste framework directive 2008/98/EC defines the EU waste management hierarchy as follows: (a) prevention, (b) preparing for reuse, (c) recycling, (d) other recovery (e.g., energy recovery), and (e) disposal. Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency defines the following hierarchy in relation to FW management: (a) source reduction; (b) feeding hungry people; (c) feeding animals; (d) industrial uses; and (e) composting, incineration, or landfilling.

Preventing the overproduction and oversupply of food is the first step to be taken in reducing FW generation. FW is rich in a spectrum of organic components including carbohydrates, proteins, oils and fats, and organic acids. FW can be converted into a spectrum of bio-commodity chemicals and bioenergy by employing bioprocesses. The implementation of the biorefinery concept could be an essential part of the successful valorization of FW. Producing a spectrum of bio-based products, FW biorefinery can complement fossil-based refinery to a certain extent and address the major drivers for the bioeconomy, namely climate, resource security, and ecosystem services.

In continuation, this Special Issue compiles both recent innovative research results as well as review papers on food waste valorization for the production of value-added products.

Dr. Diomi Mamma
Guest Editor

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• food waste
• circular economy
• value-added products
• bioeconomy
• biorefinery
• integrated bioprocesses
• bioenergy
• bio-hydrogen
• biomethane
• biohythane
• biobased products
• platform chemicals
• biofuels
• bioethanol
• butanol
• bio-diesel
• microbial fuel cell (MFC)
• enzymes
• biopolymers
• organic acids

• Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products: 4th Edition in Fermentation (9 articles)
• Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products: 3rd Edition in Fermentation (11 articles)
• Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products: 2nd Edition in Fermentation (7 articles)
• Food Wastes: Feedstock for Value-Added Products in Fermentation (9 articles)