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Background Agro-waste is of rising concern since they present social, economic and environmental challenges. Conversion of food waste is receiving an increasing attention towards the fact that these materials represent possible utilization sources for conversion into useful products and increasing the demand for natural bioactive compounds. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is consumed all over the world that contains a large number of seeds and rind, which is discarded and used as animal feed. These by-products contain phytochemical compounds with great nutritional and functional potential. Scope and approach This review article describes the scientific studies from the last five years regarding the nutritional and bioactive compounds present in the watermelon rind (WMR) and watermelon seeds (WMSs). This review also focused on their nutraceutical worth fully justified by the presence of functional active compounds, as well as their potential industrial application for future research concerning novel or functional, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical product development. Key findings and conclusion: WMR is a rich source of fatty acids, minerals, and phenolic compounds and dietary fibers. It also contains soluble carbohydrates (45–65%), carotenoids, alkaloids, saponin, and phytates. WMSs are an excellent source of protein (15–50%) such as albumin, globulin, prolamin, and glutelin. WMSs are also a good source of vitamin B-complex (B1, B2, B3, B6 B12), polyunsaturated fatty acids, essential and non-essential amino acids as well as phenolic compounds. Moreover. Watermelon by-products also present therapeutic properties including anti-diabetic, antioxidant, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, antitumor, hypocholesterolemic, hepato-, nephron- and neuro-protective effects and antibacterial properties fully evidenced from recently published literature. Therefore, the use of these byproducts to design and develop innovative functional food products with added value is important for sustainability across the food chain. Nevertheless, further research is needed on the clinical studies of WMR and WMSs to fully support the development of functional food products, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.

Sugarcane juice (SCJ) is a cheap, popular, and very nutritious beverage served at roadside stalls in many countries during harvesting season. The juice is normally consumed immediately after extraction as fermentation sets within a few hours of extraction. Preserving the raw sugarcane juice is always challenging because it spoils within a few hours of extraction due to fermentation. Therefore, the bottling, distribution, and marketing of sugarcane are difficult tasks. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of naturally derived preservatives using aonla extract (AE) and moringa extract (ME) in different proportions (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) for the preservation of SCJ during 21 days of the storage period at 4 ± 2°C temperature. The effect of extracts and storage time were analyzed on physicochemical parameters, bioactive compounds, enzymatic, microbiological, and sensory analyses of SCJ. A significant improvement in pH of 5% AE (5.30 ± 0.06) and 5% ME (5.36 ± 0.02) was observed at 21 days as compared to control (5.89 ± 0.02). The total phenolic contents in 7% ME were also observed to be retained (4.4 ± 0.02 mg GAE/mL) at 21 days as compared to control (2.65 ± 0.03 mg GAE/mL). Other physicochemical and phytochemical analyses including titratable acidity, total soluble solids, total flavonoids, ascorbic acid, 2,2‐Diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) also indicated that SCJ treated with ME was significantly stable (p, The present research demonstrates the preservation of SCJ using natural preservatives that gives more quality and shelf‐life stability in contrast to chemical preservatives.

Extraction is a separation technique for bioactive compounds from food samples that are used as an active ingredient in pharmaceutical, and food manufacturing industries. There is now an ever-incre...

Probiotics are living organisms and pose diverse applications to modify food constituents for health benefits of humans. There is an increasing trend to get insights into developments of new technologies to improve their formulations and delivery for better use as a food product. Moreover, the new and beneficial aspects of probiotics have made them as a best replacement of antibiotics to combat even more complex disorders, such as gastrointestinal (GI), nervous system and digestive system. The aim of present review was to give a brief description of all recent studies conducted on the improvement of probiotics from past few years and future perspective have also been considered in it.

Milk is a nutritious perishable product having a short shelf-life owing to the occurrence of spoilage bacteria in it. This has led to an increasing demand for ensuring safety through milk processing. Conventional techniques (such as heat treatment) increase shelf-life but damage the nutritional and sensory qualities of milk. Hence, there is a need to develop innovative, nonthermal processing techniques that increase the shelf-life while preserving its nutritional quality. This review focuses on the recent advances in assuring microbial safety of milk by using nonthermal techniques such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, ultraviolet irradiation and membrane microfiltration.

Date palm counts among the oldest fruit crops of the world and is mainly cultivated for its highly nutritious fruits consumed as a staple food in many countries, especially in the Gulf region. Dates are enriched with numerous therapeutic bioactives and functional compounds such as phenolics, flavonols, carotenoids, minerals, and vitamins that not only provide an appreciable amount of energy required for the human body but also act as an effective therapeutic agent against several diseases. This review aimed to provide a deep insight into the nutritional as well as phytochemicals profile of date fruit and its seeds in order to explore their biological (anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, cardio-protective, anti-inflammatory properties), functional food, and nutra-pharmaceutical attributes. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This review provides updated information regarding the date fruits and seeds phytochemicals composition together with highlighting dates potential as a natural therapeutic agent against several diseases. The study also urges the importance of consuming dates as a great package to live a healthy life due to the functional food and nutraceutical properties of this valuable fruit. The study also provides information first time as recommending dates to cope with the hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiency faced by the third world inhabitants. Hence, the review may further help the industry and researchers to explore the potential of dates for future medicinal and nutra-pharmaceutical applications.

Fourier-transform near infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometric algorithms was applied comparatively for the quantification of chemical compositions in black wolfberry. The compositional parameters, i.e. total flavonoid content, total anthocyanin content, total carotenoid content, total sugar, and total acid were performed for quantification. Model results were evaluated using the correlation coefficients of determination for calibration (R2) and prediction (r2), root-mean-square error of prediction and residual predictive deviation. The findings revealed that the performances of models based on variable selection such as synergy interval-PLS, backward interval-PLS and genetic algorithm-PLS were better than the classical PLS. The performance of the developed models yielded 0.88 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.97, 0.87 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.94 and 1.75 ≤ RPD ≤ 4.00. The overall results showed that the FT-NIR spectroscopy in conjunction with chemometric algorithms could be used for the quantification of the chemical composition of black wolfberry samples.

Celiac disease (CD) is a genetic autoimmune disorder of the small intestine, occurring in genetically predisposed people with a prevalence of about 1% in global population. To combat the CD, lifelong adherence to gluten free (GF) diet is required. The GF breads are generally deficient in nutrients such as dietary fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals etc. To overcome this deficiency, GF bread was supplemented with guava pulp powder (GPP) at 5 different level (0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10%). Guava (Psidium guajava) contains dietary fiber and total phenolics content, 12.72% and 927.66 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g, respectively. Results showed that, the addition of GPP significantly (p 0.05) affected the protein content and calorific value of GF bread. Sensorial analysis showed that, GF bread supplemented with 5% of GPP presented overall acceptability better when compared with control.

Punicic acid, a bioactive compound of pomegranate seed oil has gained wide attention for their therapeutic potential. Different studies conducted on animal and human models have revealed that punicic acid is very effective against various chronic diseases. Substantial laboratory works has been carried out to elaborate punicic acid effectiveness and mechanism of action in animals. The intention of this review article is to explore the facts about the clinical trials of punicic acid and to discuss different future strategies that can be employed to use it in human clinical trials. Although punicic acid may represent a novel therapeutic unconventional approach for some disorders, still further experimental studies are required to demonstrate its effects in human beings.

Cocoa butter is a key ingredient in many chocolate products but its partial substitution with mango (Mangifera indica L.) seed kernel fat (MSKF) has the potential to reduce chocolate production costs and improve shelf-life. Here, MSKF was extracted from three cultivars of mango grown in Pakistan: Lal Badshah, Anwar Retual, and Chaunsa. Physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the MSKF samples were studied at 0, 30, and 60 days of storage at 30 °C, a temperature reflecting typical storage conditions in the tropics. Overall, the Lal Badshah MSKF had the most favorable physicochemical properties, including the highest DPPH antioxidant activity among the three cultivars. Thus, Lal Badshah MSKF was used to formulate cocoa butter substitute chocolate (CBSC), substituting the cocoa butter at 20 to 80 g/100 g. CBSC had a lower value for hardness (3.80 N) compared with the control chocolate (4.42 N). Color values L* , a* , and b* were not significantly affected by the different rates of substitution or by length of storage. Oxidative stability and antioxidant potential of CBSC increased with both higher substitution levels of MSKF and length of storage. The results suggest that MSKF can be utilized as a cocoa butter substitute at levels up to 60 g/100 g. This potential for substitution is particularly valuable for tropical regions where refrigerated storage may not be available or financially viable. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Mango seed kernel fat (MSKF) has potential to be used as a cocoa butter substitute in confectionery products, particularly chocolate. The mango industry could utilize fat extraction from mango seeds, which are normally a waste product, for value adding.; © 2019 Institute of Food Technologists®.