Abstract

Food waste results from processing organic raw materials to foodstuffs, which is typically effected by the extraction or separation of the nutritionally valuable portion of the raw materials. Product-specific waste unavoidably accumulates as a result of processing raw materials. It is produced during the various steps of production, in which the desired components are extracted from the raw materials. After extraction there are still other potentially useful components present in the remaining materials. Principles of agro industrial waste conversions were identified to include compositing, anaerobic digestion, solid state fermentation and delignification. The potentials of agro industrial waste particularly in a developing country like Nigeria were highlighted including utilization of waste from milk and dairy industry, fruits and vegetable, oil seeds, brewery and cereals and legumes based industries. Important products that could be obtained include lactose, ethanol, lactic acid, dietary fiber, carotenoid, pectin, lycopene, protein concentrates/isolates, colorant, antioxidants, yeast and biogas. Agro-industrial by-products thereforeshould not be considered as wastes but as raw materials to develop new products of high quality.