Sustainable use of tropical fruits? Challenges and opportunities of applying the waste-to-value concept to international value chains.

Agriculture and food science literature on waste-to-value applications that allow upcycling of by-product ingredients is increasing. However, this stream of research rarely takes an international trade and sustainability systems perspective. This focused review defines the term of waste-to-value and the sustainable development goals connected to it, and points to the tensions and questions arising when international trade is involved. Further, it exemplifies the challenges and opportunities of waste-to-value in tropical fruit trade through five cases of tropical fruit from South America: Green coconut, açaí, maracujá, cambuci, and jabuticaba. We present a model of the international supply chain that indicates where the opportunities of waste-to-value applications in international tropical fruit trade are situated, and discuss which future research questions need to be addressed to tackle the challenges of waste-to-value in global tropical fruit chains. Establishing the waste-to-value approach in the export of yet-underused tropical fruits can amongst others improve local employment, preserve natural resources, allow favorable use of side-streams in local energy production, environmentally friendly packaging material for transport, and add health functionalities to the end-consumer products, but challenges have to be solved in order to ensure these environmental and social benefits materialize.

Application of cashew tree gum on the production and stability of spray-dried fish oil.

Evaluation of cashew gum compared to conventional materials was conducted regarding properties and oxidative stability of spray-dried fish oil. Emulsions produced with cashew gum showed lower viscosity when compared to Arabic gum. The particle size was larger (29.9µm) when cashew gum was used, and the encapsulation efficiency reached 76%, similar to that of modified starch but higher than that for Arabic gum (60%). The oxidation process for the surface oil was conducted and a relative lower formation of oxidation compounds was observed for the cashew gum treatment. GAB model was chosen to describe the moisture adsorption isotherm behaviours. Microparticles produced using Arabic and cashew gums showed greater water adsorption when exposed to higher relative humidities. Microparticles produced using cashew gum were more hygroscopic however encapsulation efficiency were higher and surface oil oxidation were less pronounced. Cashew gum can be further explored as an encapuslant material for spray drying processes.

Genetic diversity of macauba from natural populations of Brazil.

BACKGROUND: The macauba has been identified as the most promising native species for the production of vegetable oil and biomass. Several studies confirm its potential for numerous purposes (liquid and solid biofuels, food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals), but this Brazilian biodiversity resource has been little explored, and work aimed at their domestication and genetic improvement are relatively recent. This study consisted of a multivariate approach to levels of trans fatty acids, oil yield and physical characteristics found in fruits of macauba of natural populations. The objective was to quantify the genetic variability among 35 genotypes of natural populations of macauba from 16 locations in different regions of Brazil. Euclidean Distance measurements were estimated and the cluster analysis obtained by the UPGMA method considering separately the fatty acid profile, and traits related to physical part and the fruits oil content. RESULTS: It was observed the formation of seven groups for the profile of fatty acids and five groups for physical characteristics and oil yield. Large variations were observed for different types of mesocarp (pulp) fatty acids and kernel. Oleic acid (18: 1) in mesocarp was the largest contribution to the total divergence. The results indicate variations to the physical characteristics and oil yield, especially the oil percentage in mesocarp and weight of the whole fruit which contributed 64.58% of the divergence between genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The study identified genotypes potential to generate variability and obtaining selection gains, directing plant breeding programs according with demands of oils market.

Diferentes taxas de alimentação de prensa do tipo expeller na eficiência de extração e na qualidade do óleo de semente de maracujá / Different screw press feed rates on extraction efficiency and quality of passion fruit seed oil

Sementes de maracujá foram submetidas à prensagem sob diferentes taxas de alimentação (1,2 a 3,0kgh-1) com o objetivo de avaliar o impacto desta variação no rendimento do processo de extração, nas características de qualidade e na composição em ácidos graxos do óleo de semente de maracujá. O rendimento de extração de óleo variou entre 24 e 25%, com eficiência de 84 a 86% e teor residual de óleo na torta parcialmente desengordurada em torno de 5%, indicando que o processo utilizado foi adequado à matéria-prima. O menor valor de temperatura de saída do óleo da prensa foi observado na taxa de alimentação de 2,4kgh-1. Não houve diferença significativa (P>0,05) para a composição em ácidos graxos, estabilidade oxidativa, densidade e para os índices de iodo, saponificação, refração e de peróxidos. No entanto, houve diferença (P<0,05) quanto ao teor de ácidos graxos livres, que foi menor para o óleo obtido na maior taxa de alimentação, e para umidade do óleo, que foi maior para a menor taxa de alimentação. A taxa de alimentação na prensagem de sementes de maracujá promoveu diferenças quanto à qualidade do óleo.

Passion fruit seeds were subjected to pressing under different feed rates (1.2 to 3.0kgh-1) in order to assess the impact of this variation in the yield of the extraction process, the quality characteristics and fatty acid composition of the passion fruit seed oil obtained. The yield of the process ranged between 24 and 25% and presented 84 to 86% of efficiency and residual oil in partially defatted cake around 5%, indicating that the procedure was adequate to the raw material. The lowest press oil outlet temperature was observed at the feed rate of 2.4kgh-1. No significant difference (P>0.05) were observed for fatty acid composition, oxidative stability, density and iodine, saponification, refraction and peroxide values. However, significant differences (P<0.05) was observed on free fatty acids content, which was lower for the highest feed rate, and oil moisture, which was higher for the lowest feed rate. The feed rate in pressing of passion fruit seeds promoted differences in oil quality.