Tomato is the second-most important vegetable crop worldwide and a key component in the so-called “Mediterranean diet.” Tomato and its products are an important source of phenolic compounds; it is known that the phenolic constituents of tomato such as flavanones, flavonols, hydroxycinnamates, and conjugated structures (caffeoylquinic acids) are involved in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. With regard to the tomato-processing industry, processed tomato products include canned and sundried tomatoes, juices, ketchup, pastes, purees, salads, sauces, and soups. During tomato processing, a considerable amount of waste is generated. Tomato waste consists mainly of peel and seeds, which contain fiber as a major compound, but also fatty acids, sitosterol, and phenolics such as quercetin, myricetin, and others. Kalogeropoulos and others found comparable results when analyzing the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of industrial tomatoes compared with their processing byproducts. Valdez-Morales and coworkers studied the detailed composition of peel and seeds from four different tomato cultivars; they reported gallic acid, hydroxycinnamic acids (including hydroxycinnamoylquinic acids such as chlorogenic acid), quercetin along with its derivatives, isorhamnetin, naringenin, apigenin, and kaempferol as metabolites present in these byproducts. The same authors also found tomato peel is nearly three times richer in organic and cinnamic acids and four times richer in flavonoids with respect to tomato seeds. Similar results have been reported by Toor and Savage and Cetkovicetal. Therefore, data available in the literature seem to confirm the fact that tomato byproducts contain significant amounts of bioactive phytochemicals. Therefore, in line with the trend for sustainability and recycling/reusing, these constituents could be either isolated from the wastes to be used for the formulation of functional foods or serve as additives in food systems to elongate their shelf life. With regard to ferulic acid, the main constituent of wheat bran, the new trend is to use it as a substrate for the biological production of vanillin, one of the 71 most wide. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKbKU1JHgkj/?igshid=4lstjilgy0mh
