ABSTRACT
The last few decades have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the global population, further making the necessity of food ever rising. With the aim of meeting the global food demand and establishing a balance in the evolving food habits of people, more agricultural and agro-industrial sectors came into existence, leading to agricultural waste production at a huge scale. These agricultural wastes include a diverse range of residues like oilseed cakes, molasses, bagasse and several by-products obtained from milling like leaves, lint, stubble, pulp, stalk, whole pomace, peel, stem, straw, seeds, husk, shell and other food wastes that are originally derived from pulses, vegetables, fruits, cereals, tea, coffee, oil seeds, legumes, etc. The major problem occurs with the disposal of these agricultural wastes. Due to the harmful impacts posed to the environment and human health, these wastes cannot be disposed of erratically in open spaces, water bodies or any undefined area. As an alternative to resolve this issue, an innovative idea has been proposed involving extraction, purification and processing of the biologically active compounds, namely antioxidants from the agricultural wastes. This chapter focuses on the various methods and processing systems of antioxidant production, along with their applications in pharmaceutics, nutritious food development, nutraceuticals and cosmetics.
