Feasibility of use of agave angustifolia haw bagasse pulp as a food additive

Abstract

Food scarcity, climate change, social inequality, and lack of economic resources, are factors that put food security at risk worldwide. In recent years, alternatives have been sought to meet the need for nutrition and food that are easily accessible, mainly by vulnerable populations with limitations on a healthy and balanced diet. One of the most viable alternatives to creating functional and nutritious foods is the use of agro-industrial residues or derivatives, which are waste materials, generating an impact on the carbon footprint; as is the case of the mezcalero sector in the State of Oaxaca, which discards more than four million agave bagasse (Angustifolia haw) per year. Concerning its physicochemical properties, there is a precedent that alternative foods can be obtained. The objective of this research was focused on the adequate processing of the agave bagasse to obtain flour from the residual pulp that can be used as an additive in the food industry. The main stages of the processing are drying of the agave bagasse, separation by friction of the residual pulp, pulverization, and sieving, obtaining as a final product a flour with endemic properties of the Agave.