Microbial Valorization: Strategies for Agro-Industry Waste Minimization and Value-Added Product Generation

Abstract

It is estimated that between 20 and 30{\%} of the total food produced in Europe is wasted, generating associated costs of 143 billion euros per year. These wastes include the non-eaten fraction and food chain by-products, including fish and poultry processing by-products, chitinous bioresources, agricultural, dairy, bakery, winery, and brewery by-products. Many of these wastes are rich in nutrients, even so, their high content in humidity and variability and due fundamentally to the nonexistence of an integral and efficient recovery activity causes their elimination without valorization.