Morus alba L. (M. alba) is a highly adaptable plant that is extensively incorporated in many traditional and Ayurveda medications. Various parts of the plant, such as leaves, fruits, and seeds, possess nutritional and medicinal value. M. alba has abundant phytochemicals, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavonols, anthocyanins, macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, and volatile aromatic compounds, indicating its excellent pharmacological abilities. M. alba also contains high nutraceutical values for protein, carbohydrates, fiber, organic acids, vitamins, and minerals, as well as a low lipid value. However, despite its excellent biological properties and nutritional value, M. alba has not been fully considered as a potential functional food ingredient. Therefore, this review reports on the nutrients and bioactive compounds available in M. alba leaves, fruit, and seeds; its nutraceutical properties, functional properties as an ingredient in foodstuffs, and a microencapsulation technique to enhance polyphenol stability. Finally, as scaling up to a bigger production plant is needed to accommodate industrial demand, the study and limitation on an M. alba upscaling process is reviewed.

Growing demands for green and sustainable processing that eliminates the utilization of toxic chemicals and increases efficiency has encouraged the application of novel extraction technologies for the food industry. This review discusses the principles and potential application of several green technology for gelatin extraction. Several novel technologies and their processing efficiency are discussed in this review. Furthermore, factors that affect the quality of the gelatin produced from different sources are also highlighted. The potential application of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), subcritical water extraction, high-pressure processing, and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) to improve gelatin extraction are addressed. These technologies have the potential to become an efficient extraction method compared to the conventional extraction technologies. Several combinations of green and conventional technologies have been reported to yield promising results. These combinations, especially using conventional pre-treatment and green technologies for extraction, have been found to be more effective in producing gelatin. Since gelatin could be produced from various sources, it exhibits different characteristics; thus, different approaches and extraction method should be identified for specific types of gelatin. Although these technologies have limitations, such as overhydration and sophisticated systems explicitly designed for large-scale production, they are nonetheless more efficient in the long run to safeguard the environment as they reduce solvent usage and carbon footprint along the way.

Collagen was extracted from the body wall of sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) using the pepsin-solubilized collagen method followed by isolation using dialysis and the ultrafiltration membrane. The yield and physicochemical properties of the collagen obtained from both isolation methods, denoted as D-PSC and UF-PSC, were compared. The ultrafiltration method affords a higher yield of collagen (11.39%) than that of the dialysis (5.15%). The isolated collagens have almost the same amino acid composition, while their functional groups, referred to as amide A, B, I, II, and III bands, were in accordance with commercial collagen, as verified by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The UV-Vis absorption peaks at 240 nm and 220 nm, respectively, indicated that the collagens produced are type-I collagen. The D-PSC showed interconnecting sheet-like fibrils, while the UF-PSC exhibited a flaky structure with flat-sheets arranged very close to each other. The higher yield and comparable physicochemical properties of the collagen obtained by ultrafiltration as compared with dialysis indicate that the membrane process has high potential to be used in large-scale collagen production for food and pharmaceutical applications.