USING NOVEL EXTRACTS FROM CARROT RESIDUES AND BY-PRODUCTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VALUABLE FUNCTIONAL FOODS

Even if there are certain EU development programs, agri-food resources are used today without an adequate strategy in terms of food safety and regional/state food security.Significant volumes of edible parts of agri-food products are lost - increasing food waste, in conditions where certain climate changes and possible economic crises may block the recovery of some production systems.Moreover, promoting a circular economy, recovering valuable bio-compounds from certain agri-food products and using them in the development of functional foods, could contribute to sustainable development and increased life expectancy.The paper presents a case study that highlights how a series of valuable bio-compounds (less used today) can be recovered from agri-food products and used within innovative eco-friendly technologies - in the development of functional foods beneficial to the consumer's health.Using non-polluting and efficient methods, innovative technologies were obtained that led to the production of food supplements with real effects in certain metabolic disorders (metabolic syndrome). Technologies that used electro-chemical, bio-chemical and spectral analysis methods (SFE, AAS, UV-VIS, analysis of the activity of some oxidoreductases, bio-membrane activation techniques) produced outstanding results reaching a validated TRL5 level.As a result of the application of these technologies, safe and innocuous food supplements and functional foods were obtained from previously unused by-products