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Onion Solid Waste as a Potential Source of Functional Food Ingredients

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most basic and most consumed vegetables in human diet with a long tradition of use in food and medicine. It is grown and traded worldwide for culinary purpose because of its distinctive aroma and high nutritive value. Nowadays, onion production is increasing as well as the demand for processed onion, leading to the generation of a substantial amount of industrial waste. The waste biomass is mainly composed of outer scales, skin, roots, tops of the bulbs, and deteriorated bulbs. The use of onion waste as a potential source of functional food ingredients is one way of its valorization, highly in line with the current trends in the food industry to improve by waste reuse while responding to the increasing demand for functional food. Onion waste components exhibiting functional potential are: (i) flavonols – quercetin and quercetin glucosides, known for antioxidant activity ; (ii) fructooligosaccharides, well-established prebiotics ; (iii) cell-wall polysaccharides, as a part of dietary fibre, or specifically pectin as a known food additive and/or a potential source of prebiotic oligomers ; and (iv) organosulfuric compounds. The use of onion waste in food production is still in the research stage, but shows promising results in the incorporation of powdered onion waste concentrates and extracts into various food matrices to obtain innovative products with improved antioxidant and prebiotic quality.

fructooligosaccharides ; functional food ; onion solid waste ; quercetin ; valorization

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