Food waste management, valorization, and sustainability in the food industry

The food industry, as one of the largest industries around the world, is of primary importance to numerous national economies. However, the dramatic increase in world population and food supply chain demands will lead to a sharp increase of food production in the upcoming 50 years. Under these circumstances, high volumes of food industry wastes attract increasing social, political, and scientific attention at the national and international level. According to the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2011a), roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. Taking into account the increasing number of hungry people as well as the restricted natural resources, it is easily understood that waste management systems will become one of the most important challenges of the twenty-first century. National legislations, international regulatory frameworks, and directives concerning waste management indicate waste prevention/minimization and by-product valorization as they key strategies for the effective management system and sustainability of the food industry as well as the improvement of food security. This chapter includes an extensive introduction to the concept of food waste recovery by providing definitions of waste, origin, distribution, and amount of wastes produced, along with aspects of the food supply chain. Moreover, waste management strategies, general regulatory policies, treatment methods, and effects of waste recovery on the sustainability of food production are discussed in detail. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved