The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging
Spice by-products, often discarded as waste, represent an untapped resource for sustainable packaging solutions due to their unique, multifunctional, and bioactive profiles. Unlike typical plant residues, these materials retain diverse phytochemicals—including phenolics, polysaccharides, and other c...
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MDPI AG
2025-07-01
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| author | Di Zhang Efakor Beloved Ahlivia Benjamin Bonsu Bruce Xiaobo Zou Maurizio Battino Dragiša Savić Jaroslav Katona Lingqin Shen |
| author_facet | Di Zhang Efakor Beloved Ahlivia Benjamin Bonsu Bruce Xiaobo Zou Maurizio Battino Dragiša Savić Jaroslav Katona Lingqin Shen |
| author_sort | Di Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Spice by-products, often discarded as waste, represent an untapped resource for sustainable packaging solutions due to their unique, multifunctional, and bioactive profiles. Unlike typical plant residues, these materials retain diverse phytochemicals—including phenolics, polysaccharides, and other compounds, such as essential oils and vitamins—that exhibit controlled release antimicrobial and antioxidant effects with environmental responsiveness to pH, humidity, and temperature changes. Their distinctive advantage is in preserving volatile bioactives, demonstrating enzyme-inhibiting properties, and maintaining thermal stability during processing. This review encompasses a comprehensive characterization of phytochemicals, an assessment of the re-utilization pathway from waste to active materials, and an investigation of processing methods for transforming by-products into films, coatings, and nanoemulsions through green extraction and packaging film development technologies. It also involves the evaluation of their mechanical strength, barrier performance, controlled release mechanism behavior, and effectiveness of food preservation. Key findings demonstrate that ginger and onion residues significantly enhance antioxidant and antimicrobial properties due to high phenolic acid and sulfur-containing compound concentrations, while cinnamon and garlic waste effectively improve mechanical strength and barrier attributes owing to their dense fiber matrix and bioactive aldehyde content. However, re-using these residues faces challenges, including the long-term storage stability of certain bioactive compounds, mechanical durability during scale-up, natural variability that affects standardization, and cost competitiveness with conventional packaging. Innovative solutions, including encapsulation, nano-reinforcement strategies, intelligent polymeric systems, and agro-biorefinery approaches, show promise for overcoming these barriers. By utilizing these spice by-products, the packaging industry can advance toward a circular bio-economy, depending less on traditional plastics and promoting environmental sustainability in light of growing global population and urbanization trends. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-970ea5e6c2b04b01a424e7eed44b4ce6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-970ea5e6c2b04b01a424e7eed44b4ce62025-08-20T02:45:45ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-07-011414244510.3390/foods14142445The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active PackagingDi Zhang0Efakor Beloved Ahlivia1Benjamin Bonsu Bruce2Xiaobo Zou3Maurizio Battino4Dragiša Savić5Jaroslav Katona6Lingqin Shen7School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, ChinaSchool of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, ChinaSchool of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, ChinaSchool of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, ChinaJoint Laboratory on Food Science, Nutrition, and Intelligent Processing of Foods, Jiangsu University, Polytechnic University of Marche, Universidad Europea Del Atlantico, 60130 Ancona, ItalyFaculty of Technology in Leskovac, University of Niš, 16000 Leskovac, SerbiaFaculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, SerbiaSchool of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, ChinaSpice by-products, often discarded as waste, represent an untapped resource for sustainable packaging solutions due to their unique, multifunctional, and bioactive profiles. Unlike typical plant residues, these materials retain diverse phytochemicals—including phenolics, polysaccharides, and other compounds, such as essential oils and vitamins—that exhibit controlled release antimicrobial and antioxidant effects with environmental responsiveness to pH, humidity, and temperature changes. Their distinctive advantage is in preserving volatile bioactives, demonstrating enzyme-inhibiting properties, and maintaining thermal stability during processing. This review encompasses a comprehensive characterization of phytochemicals, an assessment of the re-utilization pathway from waste to active materials, and an investigation of processing methods for transforming by-products into films, coatings, and nanoemulsions through green extraction and packaging film development technologies. It also involves the evaluation of their mechanical strength, barrier performance, controlled release mechanism behavior, and effectiveness of food preservation. Key findings demonstrate that ginger and onion residues significantly enhance antioxidant and antimicrobial properties due to high phenolic acid and sulfur-containing compound concentrations, while cinnamon and garlic waste effectively improve mechanical strength and barrier attributes owing to their dense fiber matrix and bioactive aldehyde content. However, re-using these residues faces challenges, including the long-term storage stability of certain bioactive compounds, mechanical durability during scale-up, natural variability that affects standardization, and cost competitiveness with conventional packaging. Innovative solutions, including encapsulation, nano-reinforcement strategies, intelligent polymeric systems, and agro-biorefinery approaches, show promise for overcoming these barriers. By utilizing these spice by-products, the packaging industry can advance toward a circular bio-economy, depending less on traditional plastics and promoting environmental sustainability in light of growing global population and urbanization trends.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/14/2445spice by-productsbioactive compoundsbiodegradable packagingextractioncircular bioeconomyactive packaging |
| spellingShingle | Di Zhang Efakor Beloved Ahlivia Benjamin Bonsu Bruce Xiaobo Zou Maurizio Battino Dragiša Savić Jaroslav Katona Lingqin Shen The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging Foods spice by-products bioactive compounds biodegradable packaging extraction circular bioeconomy active packaging |
| title | The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging |
| title_full | The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging |
| title_fullStr | The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging |
| title_short | The Road to Re-Use of Spice By-Products: Exploring Their Bioactive Compounds and Significance in Active Packaging |
| title_sort | road to re use of spice by products exploring their bioactive compounds and significance in active packaging |
| topic | spice by-products bioactive compounds biodegradable packaging extraction circular bioeconomy active packaging |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/14/2445 |
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