ASCORBIC ACID IN AGRO-WASTE: INSIGHTS INTO ITS CHEMISTRY, BIOSYNTHESIS AND EXTRACTION APPROACHES
Food waste generated from fruits and vegetables has increased recently due to rising food consumption andtheexpansion of the food industry. Therefore, techniques for reducing food waste have been upgraded through recycling, leading to the development of various beneficial products. Ascorbic acid, commonly referred to as vitamin C, isfound not only in the juices of fruits and vegetables but also in their waste parts, including peels and seeds. Ascorbicacid is an organic compound with a molecular mass of 176.12 g/mol and the chemical formula C6H8O6. Ascorbicacid is biosynthesised in the mitochondria by several pathways, including the L-gulose, the D-galactopyronic acid, the Smirnoff-Wheeler, and the myo-inositol pathways. Ascorbic acid can be extracted from the fruit and vegetablewaste by conventional and non-conventional methods. Due to their lower energy consumption, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability, non-conventional methods are more efficient than conventional approaches, particularly in the context of recovering valuable compounds like ascorbic acid from agro-food waste. Recoveryof ascorbic acid from agro-food waste not only reduces environmental burden but also supports the valorisation of by- products into value-added compounds with a lot of applications in many industries.
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