Closing the Loop in Agro-Food Systems: Technological, Economic, and Safety Dimensions of Waste Valorisation

Global efforts toward sustainable food systems are increasingly shaped by two goals that go hand in hand: cutting the environmental impact of agro-industrial production and ensuring the safety of food supply chains. This urgency was underscored by the UN's World Food Safety Day declaration, which drew attention to food contamination risks, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and the regulatory gaps that continue to underpin foodborne illness worldwide. The valorisation of agro-industrial waste through emerging, low-impact technologies has become a central strategy for addressing both environmental and safety priorities at once, transforming by-products traditionally treated as waste - peels, pulp residues, seeds, husks, and processing effluents - into sources of bioactive compounds, functional ingredients, and value-added materials. Techniques such as ultrasound-, microwave-, and enzyme-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid processing, pulsed electric fields, and the use of green solvents (deep eutectic solvents, natural deep eutectic solvents, bio-based co-solvents) have demonstrated strong potential to recover phenolic compounds, carotenoids, pectins, proteins, and other high-value molecules while minimizing energy consumption, solvent toxicity, and residue generation. However, a persistent gap separates laboratory-scale innovation from real industrial adoption: many promising processes remain unvalidated at pilot or industrial scale, lack rigorous life cycle assessment (LCA) or techno-economic evaluation, and are developed with limited consideration of the regulatory and safety frameworks that govern their eventual integration into food and feed value chains.This Research Topic invites contributions that bridge these dimensions, bringing together the technological, economic, environmental, and regulatory dimensions of agro-industrial waste valorisation. We welcome original research and reviews articles addressing the development and optimization of emerging green extraction and processing technologies; scalability assessments and technology transfer case studies; life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of waste-to-value processes; and the safety, quality, and regulatory considerations that determine whether novel valorised products and processes can reach the market. By connecting innovation with feasibility and compliance, this collection aims to provide a consolidated, peer-reviewed reference for researchers, technologists, and policymakers working toward circular, sustainable, and safe agro-food systems, and to strengthen the interdisciplinary dialogue between process engineering, sustainability assessment, and food safety governance called for by recent international food safety initiatives.Proposed Topics1- Emerging green extraction technologies (ultrasound-, microwave-, enzyme-assisted extraction; supercritical fluids; pulsed electric fields)2- Deep eutectic solvents and other green/bio-based solvent systems for compound recovery3- Valorisation of fruit, vegetable, and cereal agro-industrial by-products (peels, pulp, seeds, husks, bagasse)4- Recovery of phenolic compounds, carotenoids, pectins, proteins, and other bioactive/functional ingredients5- Scale-up and process intensification: from bench to pilot to industrial scale6- Life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact of waste-to-value processes7- Techno-economic analysis and feasibility of emerging technologies in food processing8- Circular economy models and waste-to-value business strategies in the agro-food sector9- Technology transfer and industry adoption barriers for sustainable processing innovations10- Food safety, quality control, and regulatory pathways for valorised agro-industrial products11- Integration of novel ingredients into functional foods, nutraceuticals, or packaging materials12- Systems-level and supply-chain perspectives connecting sustainability, safety, and scalability Topic editors: Gonzalo Adrián Ojeda, Begoña De Ancos, Noemi Elisabet Zaritzky, Sonia Sgroppo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85325/closing-the-loop-in-agro-food-systems-technological-economic-and-safety-dimensions-of-waste-valorisation