Nutritional and chemical characterization of biowastes from the agri-food sector: the particular case of Malpighia emarginata DC (acerola)

• Autor(a) principal: Cerino, María Carolina
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Caleja, Cristina, Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R., Saux, Clara, Barros, Lillian, Pereira, Eliana
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/25020
• topic: Malpighia emarginata DC; Acerola

The agri-food by-products, particularly fruits and vegetables, are renewable sources that can originate new added-value ingredients with functional compounds and properties. The processing of natural matrices has been identified as excellent sources of nutrients, presenting benefits to the human health [1]. Considering the importance attributed to the biowaste from the food industry, this work focuses in the Malpighia emarginata DC biowastes characterization, concerning their nutritional value and chemical composition. The nutritional profile (protein, ash, fat, carbohydrate content and energy value) was evaluated using official analysis methodologies (AOAC) and the chemical profile was determined by chromatographic techniques, being the free sugars identified/quantified by HPLC- RI, the organic acids by UFLC-PDA and the fatty acids by GC-FID. The results showed that carbohydrates (8.57 ± 0.04 g/100 g fw) were the macronutrient presented in higher amounts, followed by proteins (1.15 ± 0.04 g/100 g fw). The fat concentration was considerably low, presenting a value of 0.30 ± 0.001 g/100 g fw and, in terms of moisture (89.74 ± 0 g/100 g), the sample showed a high-water content in its composition. The energy level of the M. emarginata fruits was 39.42 ± 0.04 kcal/100 g fw. Regarding the sugar profile, the samples showed the presence of three sugars groups, two monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) and one disaccharide (sucrose), being the fructose the main free sugar detected. Organic acids were also detected, namely oxalic, malic, ascorbic and succinic acids, and succinic acid. It should be highlighted malic acid concentration. Considering the fatty acids individual profile, fourteen compounds were identified, with oleic acid (C18:1n9c) and palmitic acid (C16:0) detected in the highest percentage (31.830 ± 0.677 % and 24.44 ± 0.16 %, respectively). Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the fruits of M. emarginata could have a potential value as functional food ingredients, due to their excellent nutritional and chemical composition.