The food processing industry is a continuously developing sector that uses innovative technologies to efficiently process food products. During processing, food industries generate substantial amounts of by-products in the form of waste materials. This food waste consists of organic matter rich in bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, and flavonoids. Improper management of food waste can adversely affect both the environment and human health, leading to environmental pollution and the release of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, proper food waste management has become an urgent global issue. The presence of bioactive compounds (mainly polyphenols, flavonoids, and anthocyanins, but also carotenoids, alkaloids, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates) in food waste holds the potential to transform them into valuable resources. Several sectors, including food and energy, have recognized food waste as an innovative source. Recently, much emphasis has been placed on optimizing the extraction yield of such bioactive compounds through the utilization of environmentally friendly and sustainable methodologies and solvents. Pulsed electric field (PEF)-assisted extraction is an emerging technique that holds promise for the utilization of waste materials. PEF technology can efficiently optimize the extraction of valuable compounds within a shorter time while minimizing solvent and energy consumption. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of PEF technology and its implications for recovering bioactive compounds from food waste. The integration of innovative technologies like PEF in the food processing industry can play a crucial role in managing food waste sustainably, reducing environmental impact, and harnessing the full potential of bioactive compounds contained in these waste materials. The objective of this critical review is to provide an overview of the utilization of PEF pretreatment for food by-products and to conduct a comparative analysis with other extraction techniques.

Moringa oleifera leaves are rich sources of bioactive compounds with potential health benefits, including antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) stands out as a promising technique for effectively extracting valuable compounds from natural sources. In this study, we aimed to optimize PLE parameters, such as temperature, extraction duration, and pressure, to maximize bioactive compound (polyphenols, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid) yield from M. oleifera leaves and evaluate their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. According to the outcomes of this research, the maximum achieved total polyphenol content was 24.10 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of dry weight (dw), and the total flavonoid content was increased up to 19.89 mg rutin equivalents (RtE)/g dw. Moreover, after HPLC-DAD analysis, neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids, catechin and epicatechin, rutin, and narirutin were identified and quantified. As far as the optimum ascorbic acid content is concerned, it was found to be 4.77 mg/g dw. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by three different methods: ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), the DPPH method, and the anti-hydrogen peroxide activity (AHPA) method, resulting in 124.29 μmol ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g dw, 131.28 μmol AAE/g dw, and 229.38 μmol AAE/g dw values, respectively. Lastly, the albumin denaturation inhibition was found to be 37.54%. These findings underscore the potential of PLE as an efficient extraction method for preparing extracts from M. oleifera leaves with the maximum content of bioactive compounds.

Plant-derived secondary metabolites such as triterpenes and triterpenoids are present in a wide range of plant species. These compounds are particularly attractive due to their extensive range of biological properties and potential applications as intermediates in the synthesis of novel pharmacologically promising medications. Saponins, which are glycosylated triterpenoids found in nature, exhibit the same properties. At this point, the effectiveness of saponins as an anti-inflammatory medication has been verified. This review article examines the primary connections between immune responses and anti-inflammatory activity, focusing specifically on the correlation between triterpenes and triterpenoids. These connections have been investigated in various cell models, as well as in vitro and in vivo studies. The present research provides a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the therapeutic capabilities of triterpenes and triterpenoids in immune and inflammatory processes. It also highlights emerging standards and their potential utilization in pharmaceutical and clinical settings.

Prunus spinosa fruit, commonly known as blackthorn or sloe, possesses a wide range of health-promoting properties, including antioxidant and antibacterial activities. In this study, we investigated the effects of various extraction parameters, such as temperature, time, and solvent composition, on the extraction of bioactive compounds from P. spinosa fruit. Response surface methodology was employed to optimize these parameters and evaluate their impact on the antioxidant properties of the extracts. Furthermore, techniques such as ultrasound (US) and pulsed electric field (PEF) were applied, both individually and in combination, to explore their potential effects on the extraction process. The optimal extraction technique proved to be the combination of PEF and US, followed by stirring. The most suitable solvent was 75% ethanol, whereas the optimum extraction time and temperature were 30 min and 80 °C, respectively. Our findings revealed that under the optimum extraction parameters, a significant improvement in the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds from P. spinosa fruit was achieved. More specifically, the optimal conditions, according to partial least squares (PLS) analysis, were a combination of all three extraction modes (PEF-US-ST), the shorter extraction time of the present study (30 min), and the corresponding higher temperature (80 °C). As expected, the presence of ethanol was considered necessary, even in an amount of 25%. The total polyphenol content was found to be 30.74 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g, the total flavonoids content 3.23 mg rutin equivalents (RtE)/g and the total anthocyanins 125.2 μg cyanidin-3-O-glucoside equivalents (CyE)/g. HPLC-DAD analysis showed that neochlorogenic acid was the polyphenol with the highest concentration (4.13 mg GAE/g) in P. spinosa fruit. The antioxidant activity of the optimized, according to PLS analysis, extract was evaluated and found to be 146.09 μmol ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g determined by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, and by the radical scavenging activity (DPPH) assay was 18.56 μmol AAE/g. Additionally, the ascorbic acid was determined to be 119.4 mg/100 g. Overall, this study contributes valuable insights into the extraction optimization process and the potential applications of P. spinosa fruit in the development of functional foods and pharmaceutical products.

Each year, a substantial amount of food is discarded around the globe. A significant portion of this waste consists of by-products derived from Citrus fruits such as lemons. The purpose of this research is to examine the polyphenol extraction and the antioxidant ability of lemon peel using cloud point extraction (CPE), a sustainable approach. CPE was conducted using three steps with a 20% w/v concentration of Span 20 as the surfactant, which has a critical micellar concentration of 6.13 × 10⁻⁵ mol/L. The pH was set at 7 and a salt concentration of 20% was maintained at 45 °C for 20 min. The subsequent outcomes of the analysis were obtained: total polyphenol content (TPC): 526.32 mg gallic acid equivalents per liter; total flavonoid content (TFC): 90.22 mg rutin equivalents per liter; FRAP, DPPH, and hydrogen peroxide assays: 2.40, 2.68 and 1.03 mmol ascorbic acid equivalents per liter, respectively, and 168.63 mg/L ascorbic acid content. The quantification of the polyphenolic compounds through High-Performance Liquid Chromatography showed that the most abundant compounds in the lemon peels are eriocitrin (159.43 mg/L) and hesperidin (135.21 mg/L). The results indicate that the proposed CPE technique is successful in extracting antioxidant compounds from lemon peels. The generated extracts have the potential to be exploited as dietary additives to enhance human health and can also be utilized for nutraceuticals or pharmaceutical purposes.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis or Salvia rosmarinus) is an aromatic herb that possesses numerous health-promoting and antioxidant properties. Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) is an efficient, environmentally friendly technique for obtaining valuable compounds from natural sources. The optimal PLE conditions were established as 25% v/v ethanol at 160 °C for 25 min, and a liquid-to-solid ratio of 10 mL/g. The optimal extract exhibited high polyphenol and antioxidant content through various assays. The recovered bioactive compounds possess potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics sectors, in addition to serving as feed additives. This research compares two distinct optimization models: one statistical, derived from experimental data, and the other based on artificial intelligence (AI). The objective was to evaluate if AI could replicate experimental models and ultimately supplant the laborious experimental process, yielding the same results more rapidly and adaptably. To further enhance data interpretation and predictive capabilities, six machine learning models were implemented on the original dataset. Due to the limited sample size, synthetic data were generated using Random Forest (RF)-based resampling and Gaussian noise addition. The augmented dataset significantly improved the model performance. Among the models tested, the RF algorithm achieved the highest accuracy.