Circular Bioeconomy of Baked Food Products

Food waste is a global crisis that threatens the environment and costs the world’s economy a great deal of money. Managing the enormous amount of food waste produced—about 1.3 billion tonnes—is a significant task. The bakery industry in India makes up the largest portion of the food processing industry and has tremendous potential for expansion. With legislation and policies turning towards sustainable development, food waste bio-refineries have gained pace recently for the production of biofuels, chemicals, and bio-based materials. Bakery waste is one type of widely available, underutilised food waste that can be a viable fuel for bio-refineries. The majority of bakery waste is starchy material, which is also a rich, pure supply of readily extracted fermentable sugars. Moreover, the sugars produced by these essential lignocellulosic pretreatment techniques are frequently tainted by fermentation inhibitors. Bakery products are an excellent substrate for microbial fermentations that produce chemicals, fuels, bioplastics, medicines, and other renewable products because they include clean, high-quality fermentable sugars, proteins, and other nutrients. The food business has limited opportunities for directly recovering bakery trash because of the short material lifetime, strict processing guidelines, and hygienic standards. Bakery trash can be valorised through the use of techniques like anaerobic digestion (AD) and incineration, which produce some green energy but offer nothing else in the way of economic or environmental benefits. The chapter will include how bakery waste is produced across the supply chain, existing waste management techniques, and logistical issues with waste collection.