Valorization of fruits and fruit juice by-products through the development of symbiotic supplements intended for animal and human nutrition

More than 280,000 tonnes of fruit were marketed in Quebec in 2019, representing a market value of nearly $290 million (1). However, fruit represents, in terms of weight, 15% of the food thrown away annually in Canada (2). The fruit juice industry also generates a significant amount of by-products which are not always valued. When buried, these products can have a significant impact on the environment, in particular through their contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases (3). There is therefore a real need for processors to develop new ways of enhancing the value of downgraded fruits and by-products whose intrinsic composition includes a variety of active ingredients of great interest for human and animal nutrition. Such an approach will allow companies not only to generate new income but also to reduce food waste and its impacts on the environment. As part of this project, various sustainable approaches and processes will be developed for the production of high added value supplements from fruits and co-products from the fruit juice industry intended for animal and human uses. This project also aims to assess the impact of these supplements on the positive modulation of the human and animal intestinal microbiota and their beneficial effects on the health and well-being of the host. The specific objectives are: 1. To characterize on the physicochemical, microbiological and functional levels different co-products from the fruit juice industry; 2. Develop extraction and enzymatic or microbial bioconversion processes for the enrichment and production of nutritionnal supplements with very high added value intended for animal and human feed; 3. To compare different technological processes for the conditioning and long-term stabilization of supplements, 4. To study the digestibility, the bioavailability and the pharmacokinetics of the supplements at the gastrointestinal level as well as their effects on the composition, the dynamics and the metabolic activity of colonic microbiota, 5. Evaluate the positive impact on health of these supplements on different human and animal study models and 6. Carry out a technico-economic study in order to validate the potential use of supplements.