Industrial wastes generated during processing of foods pose problems of disposal and in many countries anti-pollution laws forbid letting them out of the factory without reducing the BOD and solids content to very low levels. Take for instance the condition in a fruit processing unit where hardly 40-50% of the fruit is utilized for preparing various products and the waste generated include the solid wastes as well as enormous volume of water that need to be disposed off. While solid wastes have some demand for use as cattle feed, the liquid waste has very high BOD and requires to be treated for reducing its pollution load. It is in this context that any attempt to economically utilize these wastes will be beneficial to the industry. The international program recently launched with India as as partner to beneficiate the food industry wastes is indeed laudable provided the results are utilizable by the industry in these partner countries freely without any intellectual property restrictions.
"Primarily, the project focuses on utilising the molecules generated from food processing waste of mango, pomegranate, orange and rice bran. The ingredients have been used to develop aqua feeds and bakery items like biscuits, jams and jellies. In this regard, upscaling the research for the industry will be the next step in the right direction, since in India, a number of food companies are looking at the possibility of maximisng their potential. Dr D Seenappa, chief scientific officer (IF) and university head, animal sciences and fisheries, inland fisheries division, UAS, Bangalore, informed FnB News, "The project is all about identifying and introducing innovative and industry-relevant approaches for the valorisation of fruit and cereal (rice bran) wastes. This is being currently achieved through holistic conversion into functional and health-benefitting beverages, foods and aqua feeds by means of environmentally and economically sustainable protocols and technologies. Production of food processing waste is being minimised and has helped to build a synergistic research programme between the EU and India to serve the future knowledge-based economies." Peel wastes of mango, orange, pomegranate and rice bran in powdered form have proven to show high levels of carotenoids, polyphenols, pectins, high fibre and carbohydrates. These have demonstrated health benefits with high antioxidant and immunity resistance properties. Peels which are been sourced from the food processing industry have been characterised, stabilised and assessed to be converted into powder form by food chemical engineers and scientists, according to Dr Seenappa. In addition, prebiotic and probiotic effects of the peels are evaluated. Mono dose products like fruit paste, snack foods, enriched beverages, breakfast cereals and biscuits have already been developed. From the EU, seven countries - Italy, the UK, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands and Germany - have teamed up professionals with domain expertise in food and chemical engineering. India has five partners represented by the North East Institute of Science & Technology (NEIST), Jorhat, Assam, with the Indian scientific coordinator as P K Goswami; Euro India Research Centre (EIRC), Bangalore; University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore; Nature Fresh Logistics Pvt. Ltd, Pune; and Vaighai Agro Products Ltd, Madurai".
The above project is neither the first one nor the last on waste utilization processing and there are good technologies already available in many areas that are being used to day by some industries improving their economic performance significantly. Pectin from apple wastes, essential oils from citrus wastes, alcohol from molasses, triacontanol from sugar cane mud, mango seed fat extraction, color fractions from beetroot, blue grape peel and others, rice bran oil extraction, wheat germ recovery for tocopherol rich oil, orange fruit fiber, oat bran for high fiber food, etc are classical examples of waste processing industry. One can hope that the new multi nation project will come out with technically and economically viable processes to supplement the present pool of such technologies.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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