Ant lipids have been an integral part of traditional medicine in Asia for ages, yet, their nutritional and functional properties remain underexplored. The current study examines the use of three green solvents (ethanol, ethyl acetate, and their binary mixture) for the study of novel extraction kinetics and characterization of lipids from red weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina). The solvent, solid-to-solvent ratios (1:10, 1:20, 1:30) and time intervals (5-180 min) were varied for the extractions so as to assess the impact of process parameters on the yield of the lipid fraction. Kinetic modeling with Peleg, Page, and Lewis first-order models proved Peleg's model to be the most accurate in describing the extraction kinetics, as it provided the best fit to the experimental data. Ethanol consistently exhibited highest extraction efficiency, giving the highest lipid recovery at a 1:20 solid-to-solvent ratio, which was due to the increased solvation effects. The ant oil obtained was very rich in bioactive fatty acids such as oleic acid (C18:1), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), palmitic acid (C16:0), lauric acid (C12:0), which are known for their heart protective, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory actions. The lipid also included long-chain hydrocarbons like eicosane, triacontane, and hexatriacontane and fatty alcohols like n-tetracosanol-1, which not only imparts the lipid matrix structural stability but also oxidative resistance, thus signifying its potential therapeutic and nutritional value. The use of different solvents in extraction greatly influenced the separation and characteristics of the lipids as revealed by comprehensive molecular and structural analyses. To evaluate the environmental sustainability of the suggested technique, the Analytical Green Star Area (AGSA) and Analytical GREENNESS (AGREE) metrics were utilized. Both tools indicated that the used solvents were ecologically sustainable, recommending its use as an eco-friendly alternative for the regular analysis of the examined medications. The findings of this study provide a strong foundation for the development of red weaver ant lipids as a sustainable and functional superfood ingredient with substantial nutritional and industrial applications.

The growing global demand for proteins has prompted greater investigation into alternative, sustainable, and nutritionally comparable protein sources. Insects are emerging as sustainable and eco-friendly protein sources, yet extraction techniques critically influence the physicochemical and functional properties of insect-derived proteins. This study examines the effects of ultrasonic amplitude (10%-50%) and time (5-30 min) on the extraction yield, functional, structural, and surface properties of red weaver ant egg protein isolate. Extraction kinetics were evaluated using first-order, second-order, Peleg, and power law models; Peleg and second-order models showed the best fit (R 2 = 0.99), indicating superior suitability for protein extraction. Maximum yield and purity were achieved at 50% amplitude and 20 min. The optimized ant egg protein isolate exhibited enhanced water (4.58 +/- 0.9) and oil holding capacities (2.28 +/- 0.1), reduced particle size (250.3 +/- 1.9), negative zeta potential, and higher sulfhydryl group, which has a positive effect on protein solubility, emulsifying activity, and stability index (60.34 +/- 0.2 and 68.8 +/- 0.97, respectively). FTIR and XRD structural evaluation revealed a slight decrease in beta-sheets with a corresponding increase in alpha-helix, suggesting secondary structural rearrangements that enhance functionality and thermal stability. DSC analysis further confirmed enhanced enthalpy values compared to the control. SEM observations showed reduced particle size and a more disrupted, fragmented morphology, attributable to cavitation-induced shear forces. These results highlight ultrasound-assisted extraction as a sustainable approach for producing nutritionally valuable ant egg protein suitable for diverse food applications. Overall, this study provides a scientifically validated pathway for industry adoption of insect-based protein using ultrasound technology, bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-world food applications while supporting global goals of food security and environmental sustainability.

Background Ant lipids are a novel nutrient-rich dietary lipid source with some unique composition as well as health benefit potentials. This is because they are composed of a relatively balanced mixture of saturated, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phospholipids, sterols, as well as different bioactive compounds, providing diverse nutrition scope. Scope and approach This review examines ant lipid composition, extraction techniques, health benefits, and potential applications as food, nutraceuticals, and superfoods, highlighting their viability as sustainable lipid sources for future nutrition. Key finding and conclusions Ant lipids are a promising and sustainable food source with special nutritional benefits and bioactive properties. This sustainable source has unique composition, that can help with health applications, advanced biomedical uses, and improve cholesterol. The richness of ant lipids in bioactive properties requires to drive advancements in extraction methods and research on their bioavailability. Ant lipids may help address food security, environmental sustainability, and the demand for functional foods, making them crucial for future food systems.

Millets are small-grained, climate-resilient cereals that assume great significance in imparting sustainable food and nutritional security. Besides their agronomic advantages, the millets are highly nutritious and contain a wide range of phytochemicals with human health beneficial properties. There has been a recent surge in the consumption of these heritage grains and food technologists across the globe are exploring several heat-imparted processing methods for developing improved products out of these gluten-free grains. Therefore, this work aims to serve as a resource covering the state-of-the-art known information about the conventional and emerging thermal processing techniques employed in millets. However, identifying a specific conventional or emerging technique for precise improvement in nutritional or overall quality remains a distant goal, as the effects of these techniques depend on factors like dosage, duration, and other process-related variables, along with the dynamics of the food matrix. This review not only analysed the common thermal processing methods used for millets but also their influence on nutritional quality, digestibility, bio accessibility, and bioavailability. Understanding these changes can aid in developing new millet-based food products that meet consumer demands, enhance market potential, and support health claims. Overall, this area of research is still under-explored, and future research on emerging technologies and value-added millet products should take into account the relationship between composition and nutrient bioavailability.

The current study focused on novel approaches for plasma-activated water treated sweet orange peel waste through the use of various food-grade debittering agents (salt, alkali, and solvent). Among the different methods investigated, solvent treatment with acetone at a ratio of 1:10 (sample: solvent) achieved a greater reduction in bitterness causing compounds naringin from 0.59 to 0.41 mg/g and limonin 1.30 to 1.17 mg/g. Moreover, the hurdle impact of both and debittering treatment was effective in reducing the total terpenoid content from 290.89 mg LE/100 g to 230 mg LE/100 g and anti-nutrients, tannin (289.20 mg /100 g to 109.63 mg /100 g), phytic acid (52.22 mg/100 g to 22.55 mg/100 g). The saponin was not found in the treated samples. Solvent treatment decreased total phenols from 163.46 ± 2.54 to 115.81 ± 5.02 and total flavonoids from 662.23 ± 4.53 to 548.48 ± 2.98. Similarly, FRAP (Ferric reducing antioxidant power) decreased from 58.87 ± 1.57 to 38.08 ± 1.96 and DPPH (2, 2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) from 151.06 ± 3.07 to 123.81 ± 2.46. Optimization of all treatment conditions was accomplished using a full factorial design. Treatment at a ratio of 1:10 (sample: salt, DS2) was determined to be the most optimized condition, taking into account all parameters (total phenols, total flavonoids, total terpenoid content, naringin, limonin, hesperidin, antinutrients and antioxidant activities) including sensory evaluation. Debittered sweet orange peel powder obtained through this process demonstrated higher acceptability for functional and novel food product development.

Kadamb (Neolamarckia cadamba) is an underutilized fruit which has many nutritional and medicinal properties. The literature availability on utilization of kadamb as food is scarce. The present work was carried out to find the effect of vacuum impregnation during osmotic dehydration on the quality of kadamb fruit (Neolamarckia cadamba) candy (KC). The vacuum impregnation at 100 mbar for 15 min, brix value of hypertonic solution at 60 degrees, 65 degrees, 70 degrees, and 75 degrees, and time of osmotic dehydration 24, 36, 48, and 72 h were taken as variables in the process. Mass transfer parameters like water loss, solute gain, and weight reduction for all samples were calculated. The treatment with 75 degrees Brix, 48 h, 100 mbar vacuum for 15 min got best results with more water loss (67.48% +/- 1.11%), solute gain (19.63% +/- 0.32%), and less weight reduction (40.51% +/- 0.39%), respectively. No microbial load was found in the developed candy. Infrared (IR) spectrum, texture profile analysis, and field emission scanning electron microscopy tests revealed the availability of compounds, textural and microstructure of KC, respectively. The candy prepared from 75 degrees Brix, 48 h, 100 mbar vacuum for 15 min has the highest organoleptic scores. The prepared candy cubes were packed into low-density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches and stored under ambient conditions, and the quality changes during storage were studied.

This study investigates the impact of atmospheric cold plasma on locust bean gum (LBG) rheology using a multi-pin configuration. LBG undergoes plasma treatment at 30 kV for durations of 10, 20, and 30 min. Evaluation of color attributes and total color difference revealed enhancements in LBG post-plasma treatment. The linear viscoelastic region, determined at a 0.5% strain, demonstrated improved storage modulus (G ') and loss modulus (G '') concerning frequency compared to the control. Additionally, viscosity and shear stress displayed an inverse relationship with increasing shear rate, indicating the pseudoplastic nature of LBG samples. Consistent trends in G ' and G '' values of treated LBG were observed across three temperature stages, except for the 30 kV and 10 min. Infrared spectra analysis of plasma-treated LBG samples indicated the preservation of most polysaccharide groups, with no significant peak alterations. Overall, cold plasma treatment modifies LBG rheology, making it suitable for diverse food applications. Atmospheric plasma effect on the rheological characteristics of locust bean gum. image

Non-thermal technologies, primarily employed for microbial inactivation and quality preservation in foods, have seen a surge in interest, with non-thermal plasma garnering particular attention. Cold plasma exhibits promising outcomes, including enhanced germination, improved functional and rheological properties, and microorganism destruction. This has sparked increased exploration across various domains, notably in hydration and rheological properties for creating new products. This review underscores the manifold benefits of applying cold plasma to diverse food materials, such as cereal and millet flours, and gums. Notable improvements encompass enhanced functionality, modified color parameters, altered rheological properties, and reduced anti-nutritional factors. The review delves into mechanisms like starch granule fragmentation, elucidating how these processes enhance the physical and structural properties of food materials. While promising for high-quality food development, overcoming challenges in scaling up production and addressing legal issues is essential for the technology's commercialization.

Water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa) starch has technical and functional qualities that are mostly comparable to those of traditional sources. In this study, Low-fat flavoured probiotic yogurt was prepared along with...

Ammonia, a vital player in the global economy, propels economic growth through its key role in fertilizer production, boosting agricultural output significantly. While traditional methods dominate its production, recent efforts focus on sustainable pathways like green ammonia, produced using renewable energy. This colourless gas, beyond agriculture, becomes a versatile input in chemical manufacturing, finding applications in solvents and fertilizers. Industries are increasingly adopting green pathways to reduce carbon footprints, exploring methods using green hydrogen and CO2 by-products. Green ammonia, a beacon for decarbonization, surpasses hydrogen in volumetric energy density, making it a preferred energy carrier. Power-to-Ammonia technology supports energy storage and transfer capabilities, aiding renewable energy integration. Despite challenges like low reactivity, NOx emissions, and toxicity, ammonia's global demand is projected to rise to 350 million tonnes/year by 2050. This review article emphasizing the need for sustainable ammonia production to achieve economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and a carbon–neutral future.

Food loss and waste arise at every single phase of the food supply chain. The waste fraction produced through the supply system pretenses substantial dares to food sustainability and security worldwide. Nevertheless, this renewable waste biomass also possesses enormous potential to be converted into a value-added resource through emerging sustainable tools and practices. Converting renewable food waste fractions into useful products is a robust tool to report the demanding challenges of the food supply system and sustainability. With the aid of employing emerging technologies namely bioconversion, enzymatic hydrolysis, microbial digestion and so forth food loss and waste could be transformed into bioactive compounds, biofuels, bio-energy, single-cell protein source fertilizers, and various other high-end products. Furthermore, in this review, the associative investigation of prevailing literature and scientific studies related to renewable food waste fraction has been encompassed. The review also elucidates the present-day status of food waste production, associated ecological impact, as well as the potential of transforming the waste fraction into value-added products. The opportunity ranges from numerous scientific, technological, and policy mediations intended at increasing food safety and distribution sustainability. Fascinatingly, these practices not only proved to decrease leftover and its related ecological impression but also donate to circular economy development. By promoting circular economy tactics and embracing sustainable approaches, it’s evident to decrease food waste, and environmental effects, and build a better robust and sustainable food supply for the existing and upcoming population.

Background The trend towards using bioactive compounds in nutraceuticals and functional foods in recent years has increased due to their recognized health effects. However, these compounds face challenges due to their vulnerability to various environmental factors. Encapsulation methods offer a solution to these challenges, with electrohydrodynamic (EHD) encapsulation emerging as an assuring technique for enhancing stability. Despite their advantages, the production of encapsulated products on a large scale is still challenging and needs further research. Scope and approach This review primarily focuses on assessing the stability of electrohydrodynamically encapsulated products against oxygen, light, temperature, and pH. It also delves into the specific characteristics of the EHD process that enhances the stability of the bioactive compounds encapsulated. Furthermore, the review highlights electrohydrodynamic mechanisms and process parameters crucial for controlling the overall process. Additionally, it provides an overview of the application of this technique in the food sector to maximize the utilization of bioactives. Key findings and conclusions The insights gleaned from this review have the potential to guide industry professionals or personnel in developing improved encapsulated products using electrohydrodynamic processes. EHD encapsulation offers advantages compared to other methods, like high surface-to-volume ratio and lower processing temperatures. The final encapsulated products processed through EHD techniques will have higher stability towards oxygen, light, temperature, and pH than other encapsulation techniques. This technique possesses much potential for further exploration of various applications in food, such as 3D printing, metal detectors, and nanoparticles with new polymer materials.

Kadamb is a unique and underutilized fruit having rich nutritional profile. The utilization of kadamb fruit in value addition is very limited. In this study, pasta was made using kadamb fruit powder (KFP). The effect of fortification of KFP on the quality parameters (color, solid loss, percent expansion, hardness, bulk density, and overall acceptability) of pasta was studied. Pasta was prepared using semolina as the base ingredient, and various proportions of KFP (ranging from 0 to 20

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used in this study to optimize spray drying process conditions for pineapple juice powder (PJP) production.

Tea, the major beverage worldwide, is one of the oldest commercial commodities traded from ancient times. Apart from many of its advantages, including health, socio-economic, climatic, and agro-ecological values, FAO has recognized that the tea value chain covering its growth in the field, processing and marketing, and finally, the hot cup at the user's hand needs to be made sustainable during all these stages. Tea generates a lot of waste in different forms in different stages of its growth and processing, and these wastes, if not managed properly, may cause environmental pollution. A planned utilization of these wastes as feedstocks for various processes can generate more income, create rural livelihood opportunities, help grow tea environmentally sustainable, avoid GHG emissions, and make a real contribution to SDGs. Thermochemical and biological conversion of tea wastes generates value-added products. This review provides an overview on the impacts of the tea wastes on the environment, tea waste valorization processes, and applications of value-added products. The application of value-added products for energy generation, wastewater treatment, soil conditioners, adsorbents, biofertilizers, food additives, dietary supplements, animal feed bioactive chemicals, dye, colourant, and phytochemicals has been reviewed. Further, the challenges in sustainable utilization of tea wastes and opportunities for commercial exploitation of value-added products from tea wastes have been reviewed.

Kodo millet is an underutilized crop that could be used as a new starch source. Raw starch has many flaws that must be modified through treatment. Cold plasma is a well-adopted nonthermal technology for starch modification. In the current study, millet starch was treated in a plasma reactor at different voltages of 10 kV, 20 kV, and 30 kV for a duration of 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min. The effects of treatments on their hydration, structural, and physicochemical properties were explored. Water absorption and oil absorption capacities increased from 1.43 to 1.55 g/g and 1.01-1.34 g/g respectively. On the other hand, amylose content and pH of starch declined from 31.06 to 25.94 g/hg and 7.5 to 6.9 respectively. Whiteness index value increased from 82.71 to 84.45. IR spectra exhibited functional groups present in the starch. X-ray diffractogram showed changes in crystallinity along with treatment. Relative crystallinity decreased from 23.06 to 21.63%. The significance of the results was assessed at a 95% confidence level (& alpha;) at p & LE; 0.05. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Bright field microscopy (BFM) showed microstructural changes in the starch. Plasma improved the hydration and structural properties of kodo millet starch, and it can be useful for preparing various food products with good quality characteristics.

Kadamb fruit (Neolamarckia cadamba) is considered as an underutilized fruit in the world despite its nutritional and therapeutic values. This research work emphasized on the determination of some engineering, structural, and thermal properties of Kadam fruit. Moreover, mass was predicted based on measured physical properties using linear, quadratic, and power models. This fruit has an arithmetic mean diameter of 49 mm and sphericity of 0.97 which is inferred as spherical in shape. The angle of repose was found to be 59.53 degrees and the coefficient of friction on the galvanized steel surface was 0.18. Due to its higher moisture content (75%-80% wb), Kadamb fruit is perishable in nature. Linear, quadratic, and power models were used to fit the experimental data to predict mass of the fruit. Goodness of fit was judged based on higher correlation coefficient values (R-2 > 0.85). The flakiness ratio best predicted the mass of the Kadamb fruit. The average values of hardness and hardness deformation for Kadamb fruit were observed to be 51.71 +/- 3.26 N and 10.70% +/- 1.21%, respectively. The glass transition temperature (T-g) of the fruit was recorded as 58 degrees C by a differential scanning calorimeter. Infrared spectrum analysis showed the presence of aliphatic amines, ketones, carboxylic acid, alcohol, ester, ether, and phenols. The crystallinity index of ripe fruit, raw fruit, and peel was found to be 0.35, 0.30, and 0.30, respectively. This experimental result on engineering, thermal, and structural properties, along with mass modeling on Kadamb fruit will be helpful in the design and development of post-harvest machinery and value addition thereafter. Practical Applications The exponential growth of the world population has stood as the most significant challenge in front of food scientists to look for alternative food sources. Kadamb fruit could fill the food bowl of human beings because of its nutritional components, polyphenols, and other phytochemicals. Studies on engineering properties and mass modeling of Kadamb fruit could be the first step in adopting food processes for value addition. This study would be helpful in developing and designing post-harvest handling equipment like graders, sorters, cleaners, and the development of novel products and utilization of its by-products.

Feedstock availability and unremitting supply are decisive factors for the development of bioenergy systems and the bio-based economy of the near future. A holistic approach to biowaste valorization could be a valuable addition to the feedstock supply. The tea industry is one of the most important agro-based contributors to the Indian economy and produces a significant amount of around 190,400 tons of homogeneous biowaste every year, which is currently generally used as fertilizers. These homogeneous waste streams are essential for waste-based biorefineries. In this regard using tea industry waste as a feedstock for the production of energy and value-added chemicals could be a promising and viable opportunity for increasing the circular bioeconomy. This chapter is an endeavor to critically illustrate an up-to-date review of the various waste valorization techniques and the integration toward a biorefinery concept using tea waste for the production of energy and value-added products. This is considered significant in view of the fact that the waste generated during tea processing could be a viable option for waste utilization, resource mobilization, and wealth generation. This could also help in improving the overall economics of tea cultivation and its processing in a typical tea management system.