Journal of Food Quality and Hazards Control
مجله کیفیت و کنترل مخاطرات مواد غذایی
J Food Qual Hazards Control.
Medical Sciences
http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir
1
admin
2345-685X
2345-6825
8
10.29252/jfqhc
14
8888
13
en
jalali
1405
7
1
gregorian
2026
10
1
13
3
online
1
fulltext
en
Valorization of Agricultural Waste into Nutrient-Rich Functional Powders: Proximate, Phytochemical and Microbial Assessment
تخصصي
Special
Original article
Original article
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Background: </span></span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Agricultural waste generated from fruits and vegetables is often underutilized despite its potential as a source of valuable nutrients and bioactive compounds. This study aimed to evaluate the proximate composition, phytochemical profile, and microbiological quality of powders developed from selected agricultural waste materials to explore their potential as sustainable functional food ingredients.</span></span></span><br>
<span style="line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.2pt">Methods: </span></span></span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black"><span style="letter-spacing:-.2pt">Agricultural residues, including cauliflower leaves, cauliflower stem, cabbage leaves, cassava peel, beetroot peel, white pumpkin seed, yellow pumpkin seed, banana peel, and orange peel were collected and processed into dried powders using standardized techniques. The prepared powders were analyzed for proximate composition, phytochemical characteristics, and microbial quality using standard analytical techniques.</span></span></span></span><br>
<span style="line-height:normal"><b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Results: </span></span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="color:black">Significant nutritional variations were observed among the developed powders. Cabbage leaf powder exhibited the highest carbohydrate content (61.58 g/100 g), while yellow pumpkin seed powder showed the highest protein (30.37 g/100 g) and fat contents (45.00 g/100 g). Cassava peel powder recorded the highest crude fiber content (15.41 g/100 g), whereas cauliflower leaf powder contained the highest ash content (15.50 g/100 g), indicating greater mineral availability. Phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, saponins, steroids, and alkaloids, highlighting their potential functional and therapeutic significance. Microbiological evaluation showed low total plate count (TPC) values ranging from 1.0 × 10³ to 2.8 × 10³ colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g), indicating acceptable microbial safety and storage stability.</span></span></span><br>
<b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:black">Conclusion: </span></span></span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:black">The findings demonstrate that agricultural waste materials can be effectively converted into nutrient-rich functional powders with promising nutritional, phytochemical and microbiological properties. Their utilization may support food waste valorization, development of sustainable functional food ingredients, environmental protection, and circular economy approaches.<br>
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DOI: </span></span></span>10.18502/jfqhc.13.3.23164</span></span></div>
Colony Count, Desiccation, Food Loss and Waste, Functional Food, Phytochemicals
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http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2234-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1
Sahul
Rajamohamed
syedfsn@gmail.com