Utilization of Food Processing By-products as Dietary, Functional, and Novel Fiber: A Review.

Fast growing food processing industry in most countries across the world, generates huge quantity of by-products, including pomace, hull, husk, pods, peel, shells, seeds, stems, stalks, bran, washings, pulp refuse, press cakes, etc., which have less use and create considerable environmental pollution. With growing interest in health promoting functional foods, the demand of natural bioactives has increased and exploration for new sources is on the way. Many of the food processing industrial by-products are rich sources of dietary, functional, and novel fibers. These by-products can be directly (or after certain modifications for isolation or purification of fiber) used for the manufacture of various foods, i.e. bread, buns, cake, pasta, noodles, biscuit, ice creams, yogurts, cheese, beverages, milk shakes, instant breakfasts, ice tea, juices, sports drinks, wine, powdered drink, fermented milk products, meat products and meat analogues, synthetic meat, etc. A comprehensive literature survey has been carried on this topic to give an overview in the field dietary fiber from food by-products. In this article, the developments in the definition of fiber, fiber classification, potential sources of dietary fibers in food processing by-products, their uses, functional properties, caloric content, energy values and the labelling regulations have been discussed.

Improvement of efficiency of oil extraction from wild apricot kernels by using enzymes.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate and standardize the protocol for enhancing recovery of oil and quality from cold pressed wild apricot kernels by using various enzymes. Wild apricot kernels were ground into powder in a grinder. Different lots of 3 kg powdered kernel were prepared and treated with different concentrations of enzyme solutions viz. Pectazyme (Pectinase), Mashzyme (Cellulase) and Pectazyme + Mashzyme. Kernel powder mixed with enzyme solutions were kept for 2 h at 50(±2) °C temperature for enzymatic treatment before its use for oil extraction through oil expeller. Results indicate that use of enzymes resulted in enhancement of oil recovery by 9.00-14.22 %. Maximum oil recovery was observed at 0.3-0.4 % enzyme concentration for both the enzymes individually, as well as in combination. All the three enzymatic treatments resulted in increasing oil yield. However, with 0.3 % (Pectazyme + Mashzyme) combination, maximum oil recovery of 47.33 % could be observed against were 33.11 % in control. The oil content left (wasted) in the cake and residue were reduced from 11.67 and 11.60 % to 7.31 and 2.72 % respectively, thus showing a high increase in efficiency of oil recovery from wild apricot kernels. Quality characteristics indicate that the oil quality was not adversely affected by enzymatic treatment. It was concluded treatment of powdered wild apricot kernels with 0.3 % (Pectazyme + Mashzyme) combination was highly effective in increasing oil recovery by 14.22 % without adversely affecting the quality and thus may be commercially used by the industry for reducing wastage of highly precious oil in the cake.