The food industry generates a large amount of waste every year, which opens up a research field aimed at minimizing and efficiently managing this issue to support the concept of zero waste. From the extraction process of oilseeds results oil cakes. These residues are a source of bioactive compounds (protein, dietary fiber, antioxidants) with beneficial properties for health, that can be used in foods, cosmetics, textile, and pharmaceutical industries. They can also serve as substrates for the production of enzymes, antibiotics, biosurfactants, and mushrooms. Other applications are in animal feedstuff and for composites, bio-fuel, and films production. This review discusses the importance of oilseed and possible valorization methods for the residues obtained in the oil industry.

Ample amounts of by-products are generated from the oil industry. Among them, sunflower oilcakes have the potential to be used for human consumption, thus achieving the concept of sustainability and circular economy. The study assessed the nutritional composition of sunflower seeds, cold-pressed oil and the remaining press-cakes with the aim of its valorization as a food ingredient. Sunflower oil contains principally oleic (19.81%) and linoleic (64.35%) acids, which cannot be synthetized by humans and need to be assimilated through a diet. Sunflower seeds are very nutritive (33.85% proteins and 65.42% lipids and 18 mineral elements). Due to the rich content of lipids, they are principally used as a source of vegetable oil. Compared to seeds, sunflower oilcakes are richer in fibers (31.88% and 12.64% for samples in form of pellets and cake, respectively) and proteins (20.15% and 21.60%), with a balanced amino acids profile. The remaining oil (15.77% and 14.16%) is abundant in unsaturated fatty acids (95.59% and 92.12%). The comparison between the three products showed the presence of valuable components that makes them suitable for healthy diets with an adequate intake of nutrients and other bioactive compounds with benefic effects.

The amount of plastics used globally today exceeds a million tonnes annually, with an alarming annual growth. The final result is that plastic packaging is thrown into the environment, and the problem of waste is increasing every year. A real alternative is the use bio-based polymer packaging materials. Research carried out in the laboratory context and products tested at the industrial level have confirmed the success of replacing plastic-based packaging with new, edible or completely biodegradable foils. Of the polysaccharides used to obtain edible materials, sodium alginate has the ability to form films with certain specific properties: resistance, gloss, flexibility, water solubility, low permeability to O₂ and vapors, and tasteless or odorless. Initially used as coatings for perishable or cut fresh fruits and vegetables, these sodium alginate materials can be applied to a wide range of foods, especially in the meat industry. Used to cover meat products, sodium alginate films prevent mass loss and degradation of color and texture. The addition of essential oils prevents microbial contamination with Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, or Botrytis cinerea. The obtained results promote the substitution of plastic packaging with natural materials based on biopolymers and, implicitly, of sodium alginate, with or without other natural additions. These natural materials have become the packaging of the future.

In the brewing process, the consumption of resources and the amount of waste generated are high and due to a lot of organic compounds in waste-water, the capacity of natural regeneration of the environment is exceeded. Residual yeast, the second by-product of brewing is considered to have an important chemical composition. An approach with nutritional potential refers to the extraction of bioactive compounds from the yeast cell wall, such as β-glucans. Concerning the potential food applications with better textural characteristics, spent brewer’s yeast glucan has high emulsion stability and water-holding capacity fitting best as a fat replacer in different food matrices. Few studies demonstrate the importance and nutritional role of β-glucans from brewer’s yeast, and even less for spent brewer’s yeast, due to additional steps in the extraction process. This review focuses on describing the process of obtaining insoluble β-glucans (particulate) from spent brewer’s yeast and provides an insight into how a by-product from brewing can be converted to potential food applications.

The paper analyzes the possibility of replacing the polyethylene packaging from food products with biodegradable packaging obtained from biopolymers. The proposed packaging materials were obtained from polysaccharides (alginate, agar), glycerol as plasticizer. To improve the properties necessary for the coating materials, two groups of membranes were made, one with ascorbic acid (AA, 0.1–0.45 g) in 150 mL filmogenic solution and the other with calcium chloride (CaCl₂, 0.02–0.1 g) in 150 mL filmogenic solution. The membranes were analyzed for mechanical properties, light transmission, transparency and barrier properties (water vapor, oxygen, or fatty substances). The results demonstrated that the addition of AA (0.1 g), increases tensile strength, transparency, oxygen and water barrier properties. On the other hand, the addition of calcium chloride (0.08 g) increased the hardness, tensile strength and opacity of the membranes. Moreover, it ensured a uniform distribution of the mixture components. The uniformization of the mixture components in the presence of AA and CACl₂ was observed by SEM and roughness analysis. Hydrogen bonding interactions between the biopolymers and the additives used were highlighted by FTIR analysis. All membranes have shown very good UV absorption. The results suggest that agar/alginate/glycerol membranes with AA and CaCl₂ have the potential to be used in an active food packaging system.

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of antibiotic and pesticide residues on the physicochemical properties of unifloral and multifloral honey. The mineral elements content of honey was analyzed and correlated with antibiotic and pesticide residues, and a positive correlation was found between manganese and neonicotinoids. Potassium was found to be the most abundant mineral compound. Correlations were found between mineral content, color, and the content of antibiotic and pesticide residues of honey. In meadow honey, residues of antibiotics and pesticides were undetectable. In some of the other types of honey, the maximum residue limits regulated by European legislation were exceeded. Endosulfan residue was found in mint and rapeseed, honey with 0.42 and 5.14 ng/g, respectively. Neonicotinoids were found in 27% of the analyzed honey samples. Chloramphenicol was identified only in rapeseed honey, with concentrations ranging from 0.2 ng/g to 0.8 ng/g. Nitrofurans were found in 14%, and nitroimidazoles were found in 6% of the analyzed samples. According to EU legislation that is in force, the use of antibiotics in beekeeping is not allowed. The MRLs for neonicotinoids are 50 ng/g, and for coumaphos, the maximum limit is 100 ng/g. For the other pesticide residues, the maximum limit is 10 ng/g. The results of statistical analysis obtained using principal component analysis (PCA) showed a major difference in the levels of contamination of raspberry and meadow honey and the other types of honey.