The food sector includes several large industries such as canned food, pasta, flour, frozen products, and beverages. Those industries transform agricultural raw materials into added-value products. The fruit and vegetable industry is the largest and fastest-growing segment of the world agricultural production market, which commercialize various products such as juices, jams, and dehydrated products, followed by the cereal industry products such as chocolate, beer, and vegetable oils are produced. Similarly, the root and tuber industry produces flours and starches essential for the daily diet due to their high carbohydrate content. However, the processing of these foods generates a large amount of waste several times improperly disposed of in landfills. Due to the increase in the world’s population, the indiscriminate use of natural resources generates waste and food supply limitations due to the scarcity of resources, increasing hunger worldwide. The circular economy offers various tools for raising awareness for the recovery of waste, one of the best alternatives to mitigate the excessive consumption of raw materials and reduce waste. The loss and waste of food as a raw material offers bioactive compounds, enzymes, and nutrients that add value to the food cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This paper systematically reviewed literature with different food loss and waste by-products as animal feed, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products that strongly contribute to the paradigm shift to a circular economy. Additionally, this review compiles studies related to the integral recovery of by-products from the processing of fruits, vegetables, tubers, cereals, and legumes from the food industry, with the potential in SARS-CoV-2 disease and bacterial diseases treatment.

Banana is a fruit grown mainly in tropical countries of the world. After harvest, almost 60% of banana biomass is left as waste. Worldwide, about 114.08 million metric tons of banana waste-loss are produced, leading to environmental problems such as the excessive emission of greenhouse gases. These wastes contain a high content of paramount industrial importance, such as cellulose, hemicellulose and natural fibers that various processes can modify, such as bacterial fermentation and anaerobic degradation, to obtain bioplastics, organic fertilizers and biofuels such as ethanol, biogas, hydrogen and biodiesel. In addition, they can be used in wastewater treatment methods by producing low-cost biofilters and obtaining activated carbon from rachis and banana peel. Furthermore, nanometric fibers commonly used in nanotechnology applications and silver nanoparticles useful in therapeutic cancer treatments, can be produced from banana pseudostems. The review aims to demonstrate the contribution of the recovery of banana production waste-loss towards a circular economy that would boost the economy of Latin America and many other countries of emerging economies.

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is one of the main exotic fruits in demand throughout the world market. However, this fruit has problems with physical and microbial decay causing losses up to thirty percent during post-harvest stage and market storage. As an alternative for conservation, technologies based on edible coatings of biopolymers incorporating essential oils have been developed. In this paper we studied the effect of edible coatings based on chitosan (CS) and Ruta graveolens L. essential oil (RGEO) at different concentrations applied on the surface gooseberries at 18 ± 2 °C. The emulsions exhibited a reduction in the viscosity and the particle size with the increasing in the RGEO amount (from 124.7 cP to 26.0 cP for CS + RGEO 0.5% and CS + RGEO 1.5%, respectively). A lower weight loss was obtained for fruits coated with CS + RGEO 0.5% (12.7%) as compared to the uncoated (15%), while the maturity index increased in a lower amount for CS + RGEO coated than the uncoated fruits. The mesophyll growth was delayed three days after the coating applications for CS + RGEO 1.0% and 1.5%. At day twelve of the coating process, fruits with CS + RGEO 1.5% presented only 3.1 Log UFC/g of aerobic mesophylls and 2.9 Log UFC/g of molds and yeasts, while the uncoated fruits presented 4.2 Log UFC/g of aerobic mesophylls and 4.0 Log UFC/g of molds and yeasts, demonstrating a microbial barrier of the coatings incorporating RGEO in a concentration dependent manner. The CS + RGEO coating also preserve the antioxidant property of case gooseberries after twelve days of treatment under storage according to the 2,2′-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) results. It was demonstrated by the ABTS method that T5 antioxidant capacity from day one to day twelve only decreases from 55% to 44%, while in the uncoated fruits (T1) the antioxidant capacity decreased from 65% to 18%. On the other hand, using the DPPH method the reduction was from 73% to 24% for the uncoated samples and 55% to 43% for T5. From the sensorial analysis, we recommend the use of CS + RGEO 0.5% that was still accepted by the panelists after the sixth day of application. These results show the potential application of these coatings as postharvest treatment under storage and low temperature conditions during twelve days of treatment for cape gooseberry fruits.

Scaffold development for cell regeneration has increased in recent years due to the high demand for more efficient and biocompatible materials. Nanomaterials have become a critical alternative for mechanical, thermal, and antimicrobial property reinforcement in several biopolymers. In this work, four different chitosan (CS) bead formulations crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GLA), including titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂), and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, were prepared with potential biomedical applications in mind. The characterization of by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), demonstrated an efficient preparation of nanocomposites, with nanoparticles well-dispersed in the polymer matrix. In vivo, subdermal implantation of the beads in Wistar rat′s tissue for 90 days showed a proper and complete healing process without any allergenic response to any of the formulations. Masson′s trichrome staining of the histological implanted tissues demonstrated the presence of a group of macrophage/histiocyte compatible cells, which indicates a high degree of biocompatibility of the beads. The materials were very stable under body conditions as the morphometry studies showed, but with low resorption percentages. These high stability beads could be used as biocompatible, resistant materials for long-term applications. The results presented in this study show the enormous potential of these chitosan nanocomposites in cell regeneration and biomedical applications.

Red Tilapia is one of the most consumed but perishable fish in the world. As a result, it requires preservation methods for safe consumption without affecting its organoleptic characteristics. Chitosan encapsulating essential oils have shown to be an excellent food conservation method. For that reason, we carried out the study of the protective effect on red Tilapia fillets with chitosan beads (CB) incorporated with Thymus capitatus (TCEO) essential oil at 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/L to assess the conservation of the fillets. The TCEO composition was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (CG-MS). For the other side, CB was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The protective effect of the beads was tested against the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria growth for four weeks. The results showed an inhibition effect in Gram-positive bacteria at higher TCEO concentration (1000 and 2000 mg/L). Besides that, the pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (T-BNV-N), color, and fillet texture were evaluated as quality attributes. The results suggested that the incorporation of the CB-TCEO allowed a higher contact of the active compounds with the food surface, which reflected more excellent stability. The quality attributes of the fillets were preserved for 26 days, suggesting its uses for the treatment for perishable food.