Introduction
Waste generated from food industries is a source of an untapped energy which is mostly dumped inland fills whereby it releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It is very difficult to treat and recycle food waste due to its composition. Food industry produces large volumes of wastes, both solids and liquid, resulting from the production, preparation and consumption of food. These wastes lead to increasing waste disposal and can pose severe pollution problems and represent a loss of valuable biomass and nutrients (Vasso &Winfried, 2007). Waste utilization in fruits and vegetable processing industries is one of the important and challengeable jobs around the world. It is anticipated that the discarded fruits as …show more content…
The banana peel is a source of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Antioxidants are the substances that are helpful to prevent or slow the oxidative damage and are protective against cancer-cell growth. Some other banana peel nutrients are potassium, B-vitamins, and magnesium. Antioxidants also enhance the immune defense system. These are commonly used as a home remedy for several skin problems which includes allergies, bruises and skin irritation. Banana peel is high in the amino acid tryptophan which is known to increase brain levels of serotonin. Previous research has indicated that eating banana peels (two per day for three days) can increase brain levels of serotonin by 15%. Serotonin is a chemical which stimulates areas of the brain associated with pleasure. Banana peel contains a great deal of tryptophan, tryptophan helps to induce sleep by influencing the …show more content…
(2014) studied the jam prepared from pineapple peel and banana peel. Fruit peel pectin was extracted from indigenous fruits like pineapple (Ananas comosus L.), and banana (Musa balbisiana Colla) and was processed to make jams. Total soluble solids, acidity, pH, and moisture were analyzed by the standard methods of AOAC (1990). The antimicrobial potency of pineapple peel jam and banana peel jam was studied. Physicochemical characteristics indicate that the ºBrix of pineapple peel jam is 77 and the TSS of banana peel jam is 57. Banana peel jam had the lowest (0.16%) value for acidity. The highest and the lowest pH values were recorded in banana peel jam (5.94). Moisture content was found to be the highest in pineapple peel jam (62.6%) and the lowest in banana peel jam (31.9%). Moisture has a great impact on the shelf life of products. The appearance, color, taste, texture, flavors and overall acceptability of pineapple jam was significantly higher when compared to the other peel jams. The yellow colored shell of pineapple fruits was found to be relatively rich in carotenes and flavones, while the green leaves contained in addition to chlorophyll even larger concentrations of flavones, carotenes and