Sustainable Food Systems: The Case of Functional Compounds towards the Development of Clean Label Food Products

The addition of natural components with functional properties in novel food formulations confers one of the main challenges that the modern food industry is called to face. New EU directives and the global turn to circular economy models are also pressing the agro-industrial sector to adopt cradle-to-cradle approaches for their by-products and waste streams. This review aims to present the concept of sustainable functional compounds, emphasizing on some main bioactive compounds that could be recovered or biotechnologically produced from renewable resources. Herein, and in view of their efficient and greener production and extraction, emerging technologies, together with their possible advantages or drawbacks, are presented and discussed. Modern examples of novel, clean label food products that are composed of sustainable functional compounds are summarized. Finally, some action plans towards the establishment of sustainable food systems are suggested.

Automated summary

The article discusses the challenges faced by the modern food industry in adding natural components with functional properties to novel food formulations. It also explores emerging technologies for the efficient and greener production and extraction of sustainable functional compounds. The review summarizes modern examples of clean label food products composed of these compounds and suggests action plans towards establishing sustainable food systems.