By-products from olive, grape and almond processing are moving from the margins of the agri-food industry into a fast-emerging market for high-value ingredients. Materials once treated mainly as waste — from grape pomace and olive pits to almond hulls, skins and processing residues — are now attracting growing interest from the food, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetics sectors.
However, the commercial potential of this market depends on one critical factor: safety. For these ingredients to move from sustainability concept to scalable business opportunity, companies must be able to prove their safety, composition, origin and regulatory compliance, EastFruit reports.
This will be the focus of a presentation by Dr. Maame Ekua Manful of Technological University Dublin at the international FoodRevolution 2026 conference, which will take place on 11–13 May 2026 in Venice-Mestre, Italy.
Her presentation will address a question that is becoming increasingly relevant for the fruit and vegetable, wine, nut and processing industries: how can by-products from food processing be transformed into valuable ingredients, and which risks must be properly assessed before they enter the market?
Dr. Manful’s presentation is titled “Safety aspects of valorised olive, grape, and almond side streams.” It will focus on pomace, pits, skins, shells, residues from pressing, fruit water, fibres, lipid extracts and polyphenol-rich compounds.
Until recently, many of these materials were regarded mainly as waste, or as raw materials with limited added value. Today, they are becoming part of a new agri-food economy — one in which companies are expected not only to grow, harvest and process raw materials, but also to recover additional value from every stream generated along the production chain.
For the fruit and vegetable sector, this issue is particularly important. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), around 13.3% of food was lost globally in 2023 after harvest, including during transport, storage, wholesale and processing. Fruit and vegetables remain among the most vulnerable categories: losses in this group increased from 23.2% in 2015 to 25.4% in 2023.
The problem is no longer limited to the loss of fresh produce. FAO underlines that food loss and waste cause economic losses for all actors along the supply chain, lead to the inefficient use of water, energy, land and labour, and are associated with 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU alone, more than 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated every year, with an estimated market value of around EUR 132 billion.
Against this background, processing side streams are becoming not only an environmental issue, but also a new business opportunity. FAO defines circularity as an approach in which the value of resources is kept in the economic cycle for as long as possible, while waste is effectively “designed out” of the system by adding value to biological waste and by-products. FAO also notes that food systems represent the largest segment of the bioeconomy: in the EU, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, and the production of food and feed account for around 71% of the bioeconomy’s added value.
The practical potential is especially clear in the three sectors that will be discussed in Dr. Manful’s presentation.
In the wine industry, grape pomace typically represents around 20–30% of the mass of processed grapes, making it one of the most significant streams for further valorisation. In the almond sector, a considerable share of the fruit mass is not the edible kernel, but the hulls, shells and skins — materials that can also be used as raw materials for new ingredients and products.
In the olive oil sector, olive pomace, leaves, pits and liquid side streams generated during oil extraction also have significant potential. These materials may contain valuable bioactive compounds, but their use requires appropriate processing technologies, safety control and compliance with environmental and regulatory requirements.
This is where the central business challenge begins. The potential of these side streams is clear. But extracting valuable compounds is not enough. The main barrier is safety validation and regulatory acceptance.
The UP4HEALTH project developed sustainable bioprocessing systems, or biorefineries, to obtain lipid extracts, polyphenol-rich fibres, fruit water and xylo-oligosaccharides from such by-products. However, market entry requires an evidence-based safety assessment, including hazard characterisation, in vitro toxicology studies and in silico ADME modelling.
This is a crucial point for producers and processors. In recent years, ingredients obtained through the reuse of food side streams — often described as upcycled ingredients — have frequently been presented as an obvious win-win solution: less waste, more added value, new products and a stronger sustainability profile.
The reality is more complex. FAO warns that circular solutions in food systems may also create new risks, including contaminants, antimicrobial resistance, physical hazards and other food safety concerns. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has also pointed out that the reuse of waste and side streams in food and feed chains requires a specific assessment of potential vulnerabilities for human, animal, plant and environmental health.
This means that the next stage in the development of the circular bioeconomy in the agri-food sector will not be driven by processing technologies alone. It will also depend on the quality of the evidence behind new ingredients.
Companies that can demonstrate the origin of raw materials, the stability of composition, the absence of hazardous contaminants, toxicological safety and compliance with regulatory requirements will be better positioned to compete in the emerging market for high-value ingredients.
For producers of fruit, nuts, grapes and olives, as well as for food processors, this marks an important shift. By-products can become not a disposal cost, but an additional source of margin. However, this will only be possible if sustainability is supported not by marketing claims, but by scientific data, transparent control systems and a clear regulatory pathway.
This is why Dr. Maame Ekua Manful’s presentation at FoodRevolution 2026 will be relevant not only for scientists and food safety specialists, but also for companies looking for new sources of added value in the fruit and vegetable, wine, nut and olive oil sectors.
Dr. Maame Ekua Manful will speak on 12 May during the “Circular Bioeconomy II” session at FoodRevolution 2026 in Venice-Mestre.
The international conference will bring together more than 60 presentations and 4 expert panels. Key topics will include circular bioeconomy, safety of new food ingredients, sustainable supply chains, evidence-based sustainability for agri-food businesses, food safety, novel foods and practical solutions for the transformation of agri-food systems.
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