Biotechnological potential of fruit processing industry residues

Abstract

Fruit juices and derived products such as nectars and drinks have experienced growing popularity within the last years. Orange waste, apple pomace and grape pomace are the solid by-products derived from processing of oranges, apples and grapes, respectively. Due to increasing production, their disposal represents a growing problem since the plant material is usually prone to microbial spoilage, thus limiting further exploitation. On the other hand, costs of drying, storage and shipment of by-products are economically limiting factors. Therefore, agro-industrial by-products are often utilized as feed or as fertilizer. The application of agro-industrial by-products in bioprocesses offers a wide range of alternative substrates, thus helping to solve pollution problems related to their disposal. Attempts have been made to use orange waste, apple pomace and grape pomace to generate several value-added products through microbial transformations or enzymatic modifications, such as enzymes, bioethanol, organic acids, heteropolysaccharides, aroma compounds, protein enriched feeds, prebiotic oligosaccharides and biologically active molecules. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.