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Although traditional meat products are highly popular with consumers, the high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol present significant health concerns. However, simply using plant oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids to replace animal fat in meat products causes a decline in product quality, such as lower levels of juiciness and hardness. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a fat substitute that can ensure the sensory quality of the product while reducing its fat content. Consequently, using emulsion gels to produce structured oils or introducing functional ingredients has attracted substantial attention for replacing the fat in meat products. This paper delineated emulsion gels into protein, polysaccharide, and protein–polysaccharide compound according to the matrix. The preparation methods and the application of the three emulsion gels as fat substitutes in meat products were reviewed. Since it displayed a unique separation structure, the double emulsion was highly suitable for encapsulating bioactive substances, such as functional oils, flavor components, and functional factors, while it also exhibited significant potential for developing low-fat or functional healthy meat products. This paper summarized the studies involving the utilization of double emulsion and gelled double emulsion as fat replacement agents to provide a theoretical basis for related research and new insight into the development of low-fat meat products.

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is an important bioplastic, its production has been commercialized, and an increase of production capacities is expected. As with many other basic chemicals, PHA production requires a currently unavailable amount of renewable carbon if bioplastic production is ever to compete with plastic production from petroleum. This extensive demand for raw materials poses challenges in terms of costs, logistics, and land use. The application of biogenic residues is therefore one of the prerequisites for any economically significant and environmentally friendly PHA production. Against this background, recent findings on the possibilities of using biogenic residues from food production and consumption to produce PHA are summarized. Waste animal fats, waste cooking oil, but also mixed food waste, either from food production or consumer food waste represent the most abundant food-related residues. They are explored for their potential to serve as substrate for PHA production. While waste animal fat and waste cooking oil can be fed directly into suspension cultures, mixed food waste can be converted into short-chain carboxylic acids from microbial hydrolysis and acidogenesis in dark fermentation before being fed. Titers and productivity of the several feedstock options are compared. The potential for economically viable and sustainable production and integration into local material cycles is highlighted, although there are still several challenges to overcome. Key points • Waste cooking oil enables low-cost and scalable PHA production • Thermally liquefied animal fats are a suitable feed for emulsifier-free PHA production • Coupling dark fermentation and PHA production is economically feasible • The impact of carboxylic acid composition on PHA synthesis is explored

The excessive reliance on fossil fuels has resulted in an energy crisis, environmental pollution, and health problems, calling for alternative fuels such as biodiesel. Here, we review computational chemistry and machine learning for optimizing biodiesel production from waste. This article presents computational and machine learning techniques, biodiesel characteristics, transesterification, waste materials, and policies encouraging biodiesel production from waste. Computational techniques are applied to catalyst design and deactivation, reaction and reactor optimization, stability assessment, waste feedstock analysis, process scale-up, reaction mechanims, and molecular dynamics simulation. Waste feedstock comprise cooking oil, animal fat, vegetable oil, algae, fish waste, municipal solid waste and sewage sludge. Waste cooking oil represents about 10% of global biodiesel production, and restaurants alone produce over 1,000,000 m3 of waste vegetable oil annual. Microalgae produces 250 times more oil per acre than soybeans and 7–31 times more oil than palm oil. Transesterification of food waste lipids can produce biodiesel with a 100% yield. Sewage sludge represents a significant biomass waste that can contribute to renewable energy production.

Since natural resources for the bioproduction of commodity chemicals are scarce, waste animal fats (WAF) are an interesting alternative biogenic residual feedstock. They appear as by-product from meat production, but several challenges are related to their application: first, the high melting points (up to 60 °C); and second, the insolubility in the polar water phase of cultivations. This leads to film and clump formation in shake flasks and microwell plates, which inhibits microbial consumption. In this study, different flask and well designs were investigated to identify the most suitable experimental set-up and further to create an appropriate workflow to achieve the required reproducibility of growth and product synthesis. The dissolved oxygen concentration was measured in-line throughout experiments. It became obvious that the gas mass transfer differed strongly among the shake flask design variants in cultivations with the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) accumulating organism Ralstonia eutropha. A high reproducibility was achieved for certain flask or well plate design variants together with tailored cultivation conditions. Best results were achieved with bottom baffled glass and bottom baffled single-use shake flasks with flat membranes, namely, >6 g L-1 of cell dry weight (CDW) with >80 wt% polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from 1 wt% WAF. Improved pre-emulsification conditions for round microwell plates resulted in a production of 14 g L-1 CDW with a PHA content of 70 wt% PHB from 3 wt% WAF. The proposed workflow allows the rapid examination of fat material as feedstock, in the microwell plate and shake flask scale, also beyond PHA production.Key points• Evaluation of shake flask designs for cultivating with hydrophobic raw materials• Development of a workflow for microwell plate cultivations with hydrophobic raw materials• Production of polyhydroxyalkanoate in small scale experiments from waste animal fat

In order to reduce the fat content in emulsified sausage products, wheat bran was used as raw material to prepare cellulose by formic acid hydrolysis, and nanocrystallization was carried out by oxalic acid combined with high-pressure technology. Afterward, nanocellulose was used as a solid particle-stabilized Pickering emulsion to replace fat and produce low-fat emulsified sausage. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal stability analysis showed that the prepared wheat bran nanocellulose was cellulose I with a crystallinity index of 73.36% and had good thermal stability (initial degradation temperature: 245.14 °C, maximum weight change temperature: 351.21 °C). When Pickering emulsion was used instead of fat in emulsified sausage, the theoretical heat and cooking loss of emulsified sausage decreased significantly with the fat substitute rate. However, the brightness, hardness, elasticity, cohesion, chewiness, and recoverability increased. This means that wheat bran nanocellulose stabilized Pickering emulsion is an ideal substitute for fat in emulsified sausage and can provide a theoretical basis for solving a series of health problems caused by eating large amounts of animal fat.

The present work evaluates the suitability of beeswax oleogels and emulsion gel prepared with a healthy lipid mixture (olive and chia oils) as pork fat replacers for the development of a dry fermented meat product (fuet). Because these systems offer various possibilities, this study has compared their effect on the nutritional quality and sensory acceptability of fuets and their behaviour with regard to technological properties and microbiological and oxidative stability during 30 days of chilled storage. This strategy allowed products with an improved fatty acid profile and a 12-fold decrease of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n-6/n-3 ratio, as compared to the control samples. Irrespective of the structuring method used as animal fat replacer, reformulated samples showed a good oxidative status during chilled storage. In general, no differences that depended on the use of oleogel or emulsion gel were observed in the technological properties and microbiological status, so the choice of one or the other would be conditioned by other factors than the characteristics that the product develops. However, further studies are needed to improve the sensory attributes of the reformulated samples.

Upcycling food waste into PHAs offers a promising solution to reduce environmental impact and generate value-added products for drug delivery, scaffold materials, and tissue engineering.Lignocellulosic food waste requires pretreatment and detoxification, whereas waste cooking oil can be fermented directly to produce PHAs.Cupriavidus necator excels in PHA production from lignocellulosic feedstock, showing tolerance to inhibitors. Pseudomonas spp. stand out for waste cooking oil utilization owing to their capacity for esterase and lipase production, enabling PHA accumulation.Butyl acetate is the optimal solvent for PHA recovery owing to its high yield, purity, and molecular weight, with minimal toxicity. PHAs can be recycled through methods such as extrusion, pyrolysis, gasification, and anaerobic digestion within a closed-loop cycle. This review emphasizes the urgent need for food waste upcycling as a response to the mounting global food waste crisis. Focusing on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as an alternative to traditional plastics, it examines the potential of various food wastes as feedstock for microbial fermentation and PHA production. The upcycling of food waste including cheese whey, waste cooking oil, coffee waste, and animal fat is an innovative practice for food waste management. This approach not only mitigates environmental impacts but also contributes to sustainable development and economic growth. Downstream processing techniques for PHAs are discussed, highlighting their role in obtaining high-quality materials. The study also addresses sustainability considerations, emphasizing biodegradability and recycling, while acknowledging the challenges associated with this path. This review emphasizes the urgent need for food waste upcycling as a response to the mounting global food waste crisis. Focusing on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) as an alternative to traditional plastics, it examines the potential of various food wastes as feedstock for microbial fermentation and PHA production. The upcycling of food waste including cheese whey, waste cooking oil, coffee waste, and animal fat is an innovative practice for food waste management. This approach not only mitigates environmental impacts but also contributes to sustainable development and economic growth. Downstream processing techniques for PHAs are discussed, highlighting their role in obtaining high-quality materials. The study also addresses sustainability considerations, emphasizing biodegradability and recycling, while acknowledging the challenges associated with this path.

Marine lipids are recognized for their-health promoting features, mainly for being the primary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, and are therefore critical for human nutrition in an age when the global supply for these nutrients is experiencing an unprecedent pressure due to an ever-increasing demand. The seafood industry originates a considerable yield of co-products worldwide that, while already explored for other purposes, remain mostly undervalued as sustainable sources of healthy lipids, often being explored for low-value oil production. These co-products are especially appealing as lipid sources since, besides the well-known nutritional upside of marine animal fat, which is particularly rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, they also have interesting bioactive properties, which may garner them further interest, not only as food, but also for other high-end applications. Besides the added value that these co-products may represent as valuable lipid sources, there is also the obvious ecological upside of reducing seafood industry waste. In this sense, repurposing these bioresources will contribute to a more sustainable use of marine animal food, reducing the strain on already heavily depleted seafood stocks. Therefore, untapping the potential of marine animal co-products as valuable lipid sources aligns with both health and environmental goals by guaranteeing additional sources of healthy lipids and promoting more eco-conscious practices.

Biosurfactants are naturally occurring, surface-active chemicals generated by microorganisms and have attracted interest recently because of their numerous industrial uses. Compared to their chemical equivalents, they exhibit qualities that include lower toxic levels, increased biodegradable properties, and unique physiochemical properties. Due to these traits, biosurfactants have become attractive substitutes for synthetic surfactants in the pharmaceutical industry. In-depth research has been done in the last few decades, demonstrating their vast use in various industries. This review article includes a thorough description of the various types of biosurfactants and their production processes. The production process discussed here is from oil-contaminated waste, agro-industrial waste, dairy, and sugar industry waste, and also how biosurfactants can be produced from animal fat. Various purification methods such as ultrafiltration, liquid–liquid extraction, acid precipitation, foam fraction, and adsorption are required to acquire a purified product, which is necessary in the pharmaceutical industry, are also discussed here. Alternative ways for large-scale production of biosurfactants using different statistical experimental designs such as CCD, ANN, and RSM are described here. Several uses of biosurfactants, including drug delivery systems, antibacterial and antifungal agents, wound healing, and cancer therapy, are discussed. Additionally, in this review, the future challenges and aspects of biosurfactant utilization in the pharmaceutical industry and how to overcome them are also discussed.

Africa is currently experiencing rapid urbanisation impacting on people's food environments and dietary habits. Such changes are associated with higher prevalence of obesity coexisting with undernutrition. The present paper provides an overview of the healthiness of African urban food environments. We discuss the ways that food environments can be characterised and summarise the methods that can be used to investigate and intervene in the food environment. Data for Africa over a 50-year period (1961–2013) suggest an increasing availability of energy, animal products, fruit and vegetables, vegetable oils, sugar and sweeteners but a decrease in animal fats. There is a lack of evidence about how social, physical and macro-environments drive dietary habits in urban Africa, as most research has focused on the individual level. Examining how food consumption is embedded in everyday life, by investigating social environments is crucial to developing effective interventions. The informal food sector plays an important role in the retail food environment. Macro-level food price changes are an important factor influencing nutritional quality of African diets. The rapid expansion of food/beverages advertising in Africa threatens traditional food habits. Liberalisation of food trade is already impacting on the nutritional quality of food available. Improving African food environments represents a pressing public health concern and has the potential to prevent all forms of malnutrition. Hence, by conducting research into the role of urban social, physical and macro-environments, emerging interventions and policies are likely to positively impact on nutritional status, thereby enhancing social and economic development.