Encouraging sustainable dietary practices is a positive step towards alleviating the negative impact of increasing food waste. This study explores consumers’ perceptions of sustainable diets and factors influencing their adoption of sustainable practices, such as circular eating. Fifteen consumers in Ireland aged 18–65+ years were recruited for a qualitative study exploring their views on sustainable diets and their opinions on the use of peels, trimmings, and other by-products from fruit and vegetables as potential new ingredients or new circular food products. Age, gender, dietary preferences and educational background were important considerations during recruitment. Online interviews were conducted, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis managed by NVivo 12. The results highlighted two overarching themes impacting circular eating, namely, food choice motives and awareness of food waste. These were linked to the participants’ knowledge of and potential adoption of sustainable diets. Daily trade-offs were evident, linked to the product and the person who was also strongly influenced by their micro-environment. Consumer education from credible sources would be required to create awareness of circular eating. Most respondents were positively disposed to the concept of circular eating, as long as food safety concerns and affordability considerations were addressed through industry transparency.

Food waste is a global issue, with the fruit and vegetable sector accounting for higher losses compared with other sectors. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding into how industry stakeholders in Ireland manage surplus fruit and vegetable material remaining after their main processing. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was employed to collect data in the form of online surveys (n = 55) and one-to-one interviews (n = 7). The findings outlined several barriers to revalorization. Most respondents were measuring food waste and actively trying to minimize it, although this was for economic rather than environmental sustainability reasons. Environmental sustainability measures were an important factor for larger companies, although all respondents agreed it was important to manage this material from an environmental perspective. This material was mostly classified as “food waste” and usually composted or used for animal feed. Many stakeholders had identified opportunities for revalorization; however, for smaller businesses, this cannot become a reality without considerable investment. Joined-up thinking is required among all stakeholders, including consumers and policy makers, to create positive sustainable changes. Education and greater awareness about the extent of the food waste crisis may assist in achieving reduction targets and encourage revalorization in the industry.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections contribute significantly to the mortality rate associated with antimicrobial resistance, while also increasing medical complications when compared to methicillin-sensitive isolates. Consequently, increasing the efficacy of β-lactams may alleviate the burden associated with this drug–pathogen combination. Dialysed extracts, derived from Pelvetia canaliculata, were further partitioned to generate phlorotannin enriched extracts (PEEs). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of extracts were used to determine the antimicrobial and antibiotic-modulating activity against seven clinical MRSA isolates. Whole-transcriptomic sequencing was carried out to determine potential mechanisms of action on the strongest extract–antibiotic combination against an MRSA isolate, determined by the fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI). The most pronounced β-lactam modulatory effects were seen in the >100 kDa PEE from P. canaliculata in conjunction with amoxicillin (MIC fold-reductions = 12.8–214), while >30 kDa PEE resulted in the strongest FIC index value when combined with penicillin (0.23), indicating a synergistic effect. Whole-transcriptome analysis of this treatment identified multiple differentially expressed genes (Log2FC +1/−1) of statistical significance (p adj < 0.05), namely related to accelerated autolysis, cell-envelope stability, protein synthesis, DNA replication, iron homeostasis and active transport. This study highlights preliminary transcriptomic evidence of biological processes associated with penicillin modulation by P. canaliculata > 30 kDa PEE, providing a foundation for further investigation of its antibiotic-modulating activity.

Recent data indicate that bacterial infections were responsible for approximately 7.7 million annual deaths globally (Ikuta et al., 2022). The widespread emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)...