A Suggestion for Sustainable Nutrition: Utilization of Tomato Waste

Öz

The rapid increase in Turkey's and the world's population and population projections for the future; the fact that the lands that can be used as agricultural lands have reached the limit values and the yields achieved in production are approaching the acceptable upper limits, lead to a decrease in food security day by day. Therefore, this situation brings the issue of “sustainable nutrition” to the agenda more and more today. Tomato, which is the most produced vegetable product in Turkey, is generally used in tomato paste production and economic and nutritional losses occur due to the inadequate utilization of the lycopene-rich product (pulp), which is left as waste (5-30%) such as seeds and peels that are not used during production. Taking initiatives in this regard by anticipating future projections is important for sustainability for Turkey and the World. Although examples of research and projects carried out in our country and in the world have been given, no product offering added value at the sales stage has been found. This situation brings to mind the thesis that the products developed generally remain at the theoretical or prototype stage. This article has been prepared to raise awareness about the loss of lycopene-rich waste products and to provide recommendations.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Sustainability
• Tomato Waste
• Waste Management
• Food Development

Sürdürülebilir Beslenme İçin Bir Öneri: Domates Atıklarının Değerlendirilmesi

Öz

Türkiye ve Dünya nüfusundaki hızlı yükseliş ve geleceğe dair nüfus projeksiyonları; tarımsal arazileri olarak kullanılabilecek toprakların sınır değerlere ulaşması ve üretimde ulaşılan verimin kabul edilebilir üst sınırlara yaklaşması besin güvencesinin her geçen gün azalmasına yol açmaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu durum, “sürdürülebilir beslenme” konusunu günümüzde daha fazla gündeme taşımaktadır. Türkiye’de en fazla üretilen sebze ürünü olan domates, genel olarak salça üretiminde kullanılmakta ve üretim sırasında kullanılmayan çekirdek ve kabuk gibi atık olarak ayrılan (%5-30) likopen açısından zengin ürünün (küspe) yeterince değerlendirilememesi sebebiyle ekonomik ve besinsel kayıplar oluşmaktadır. Gelecek projeksiyonlarını öngörerek bu konuda girişimlerin yapılması ülkemiz ve dünya için sürdürülebilirlik açısından önem arz etmektedir. Türkiye’de ve Dünya’da yapılan araştırma ve projelerden örnekler verilmiş olmasına karşın katma değer sunan satış aşamasında herhangi bir ürün bulunamamıştır. Bu durum geliştirilen ürünlerin genel olarak teorik veya prototip aşamasında kaldığı tezini akla getirmektedir. Bu yazı likopen açısından zengin atık ürünlerinin kaybı hakkında farkındalık oluşturmak ve öneriler sunmak amacıyla hazırlanmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Sürdürülebilirlik
• Domates atığı
• Atık Yönetimi
• Gıda Geliştirme

Kaynakça

1. Aitken, J.A., Sprenger, A., Alaybek, B., Mika, G., Hartman, H., Leets, L., Maese, E. & Davoodi, T. (2024). Surveys and diaries and scales, oh my! A critical analysis of household food waste measurement. Sustainability, 16(3), s. 968. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su16030968
2. Akyüz, M. & Kırbağ, S. (2009). Bazı tarımsal ve endüstriyel atıkların Pleurotus spp. üretiminde kompost olarak değerlendirilmesi. Ekoloji, 18(70), s. 27-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5053/ekoloji.2009.704
3. Ali, M. Y., Sina, A. A. I., Khandker, S. S., Neesa, L., Tanvir, E. M., Kabir, A., Khalil, M. I., & Gan, S. H. (2020). Nutritional composition and bioactive compounds in tomatoes and their impact on human health and disease: A review. Foods, 10(1), s. 45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/FOODS10010045
4. Al-Rumaihi, A., McKay, G., Mackey, H. R. & Al-Ansari, T. (2020). Environmental impact assessment of food waste management using two composting techniques. Sustainability, 12, s. 1595. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041595
5. Badayman, M. ve Dinçel Kasapoğlu E. (2023). Midye kabuğunun özellikleri ve tozunun değerlendirilmesi. ABMYO Dergisi, 18(68), s. 177-187. Erişim adresi: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/abmyoder/issue/82154/1298342
6. Barbier, E. B., & Burgess, J. C. (2001). Tropical deforestation, tenure insecurity, and unsustainability. Forest Science, 47(4), s. 497–509. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/FORESTSCIENCE/47.4.497
7. Byker Shanks, C., Banna, J. & Serrano, E. J. (2017). Food waste in the national school lunch program 1978-2015: A systematic review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(11), s. 1792-807 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2017.06.008
8. Calvo, M. M., Garcia, M. L. & Selgas, M. D. (2008). Dry fermented sausages enriched with lycopene from tomato peel. Meat Science, 80, s. 167–172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2007.11.016)

9. Canali, M., Amani, P., Aramyan, L., Gheoldus, M., Moates, G., Ostergren, K., Silvennoinen, K., Waldron, K., & Vittuari, M. (2017). Food waste drivers in Europe, from identification to possible interventions. Sustainability, 9(1), s. 37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010037
10. Carlsen, L. & Bruggemann, R. (2022). The 17 United Nations sustainable development goals: A status by 2020. International Journal Of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 29(3), s. 219-229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2021.1948456
11. Chauhan, C., Dhir, A., Akram, M. U., & Salo, J. (2021). Food loss and waste in food supply chains. a systematic literature review and framework development approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 295, s. 126438. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2021.126438
12. Chen, C., Chaudhary, A. & Mathysa, A. (2020). Nutritional and environmental losses embedded in global food waste. resources, Conservation & Recycling, 160, s. 104912. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104912
13. Corrado, S., & Sala, S. (2018). Food waste accounting along global and European food supply chains: State of the art and outlook. Waste Management, 79, s. 120–131. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.07.032
14. De Menna, F., Dietershagen, J., Loubiere, M. & Vittuari, M. (2018). Life cycle costing of food waste: A review of methodological approaches. Waste Management, 73, s. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.12.032
15. Elimelech, E., Ayalon, O. & Ert, E. (2018). What gets measured gets managed: A new method of measuring household food waste. Waste Management, 76, s. 68-81. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.wasman.2018.03.031
16. Elimelech, E., Segal-Klein, H., Kaplan Mintz, K., Katz-Gerro, T., & Ayalon, O. (2024). Food waste prevention and reduction: Practices, cultural and personal determinants. Appetite, 200, s. 107565. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.APPET.2024.107565
17. Erçetin, H. K., Güneş, E. & Madenci, A. B. (2019). Atıkların değerlendirilmesinde karpuz çekirdeği katkısı. Social Science Development Journal, 4(17), s. 776-781. Erişim adresi: https://ssdjournal.org/index.php/pub/article/view/106
18. Ertilav, M.M. & Kılıç, M.B. (2024). Forecasting the population of Türkiye using grey models. Alphanumeric, 12(3), s. 227-248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17093/alphanumeric.1507101
19. Eurostat (n.d.). Food waste and food waste prevention estimates: Statistics explained. Erişim adresi: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Food_waste_and_food_waste_prevention_-_estimates Erişim tarihi: 24.10.2025
20. Faraone, I., Russo, D., Ponticelli, M., Candido, V., Castronuovo, D., Cardone, L., Sinisgalli, C., Labanca, F. & Milella, L. (2021). Preserving biodiversity as source of health promoting compounds: Phenolic profile and biological activity of four varieties of Solanum Lycopersicum L. Plants, 10(3), s. 447. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/PLANTS10030447
21. FAO, (2022a). The state of the World’s land and water resources for food and agriculture – systems at breaking point: Main report. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9910en
22. FAO, (2022b). Sustainable diets and biodiversity. FAO headquarters. ISBN: 978-92-5-107288-2. Erişim adresi: https://www.fao.org/4/i3004e/i3004e00.htm
23. FAO & WHO (2019). Sustainable healthy diets – guiding principles. Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations World Health Organization, Roma. ISBN: 978-92-4-151664-8. Erişim adresi: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241516648
24. Ferreira, M. S. L., Santos, M. C. P., Moro, T. M. A., Basto, G. J., Andrade, R. M. S., & Gonçalves, É. C. B. A. (2015). Formulation and characterization of functional foods based on fruit and vegetable residue flour. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 52(2), s. 822–830. https://doi.org/10.1007/S13197-013-1061-4
25. Fitton, N., Alexander, P., Arnell, N., Bajzelj, B., Calvin, K., Doelman, J., Gerber, J.S., Havlik, P., Hasegawa, T., Herrero, M., Krisztin, T., van Meijl, H., Powell, T., Sands, R., Stehfest, E. & Smith, P. (2019). The vulnerabilities of agricultural land and food production to future water scarcity. Global Environmental Change, 58, s. 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101944
26. García, M. L. Calvo, M. M. & Selgas, M. D. (2009). Beef hamburgers enriched in lycopene using dry tomato peel as an ingredient. Meat Science, 83, s. 45–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2009.03.009
27. Gerland, P., Raftery, A. E., Ševčíková, H., Li, N., Gu, D., Spoorenberg, T., Alkema, L., Fosdick, B. K., Chunn, J., Lalic, N., Bay, G., Buettner, T., Heilig, G. K., & Wilmoth, J. (2014). World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science, 346(6206), s. 234–237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1257469
28. Gibbs, H.K., Ruesch, A.S., Achard, F.,Clayton, M.K., Holmgren, P., Ramankutty, N. and Foley J.A. (2009). Tropical forests were the primary sources of new agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s. PNAS, 107(38), s. 16732-16737. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0910275107
29. Gheonea, I., Aprodu, I., Circiumaru, A., Râpeanu, G., Bahrim, G. E. & Stănciuc, N. (2021). Microencapsulation of lycopene from tomatoes peels by complex coacervation and freeze-drying: evidences on phytochemical profile, stability and food applications. Journal of Food Engineering, 288, s. 110166. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2020.110166
30. Igual, M., Moreau, F., García-Segovia, P. & Martínez-Monzó, J. (2023). Valorization of beetroot by-products for producing value-added third generation snacks. Foods, 12(1), s. 176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/FOODS12010176
31. Ishangulyyev, R., Kim, S. & Lee, S. H. (2019). Understanding food loss and waste - why are we losing and wasting food? Foods, 8(8), s. 297. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/FOODS8080297
32. Işık, F. & Topkaya, C., (2017). Domates çekirdeği ilave edilerek üretilen krakerlerin bazı kimyasal, fiziksel ve duyusal özellikleri. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Mühendislik Bilimleri Dergisi, 23(7), s. 926-932. Erişim adresi: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/pajes/issue/33120/377698
33. Kausar, T., Aslam, K., Hussain, A., Arshad, R., Waqas, M. T., Bilal, M., Zia, M., Sidrah, Firdous, N. & Elkhedir, A. E. (2025). Development and evaluation of food bar utilizing the valuable waste in the form of apple and carrot pomace powders. Discover Food, 5(1), s. 1–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/S44187-025-00620-2/
34. Keeble, B. R. (1988). The Brundtland report: Our common future. Medicine and War, 4, s. 17-25. Erişim adresi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/45353161
35. López-Yerena, A., Domínguez-López, I., Abuhabib, M. M., Lamuela-Raventós, R. M., Vallverdú-Queralt, A., & Pérez, M. (2024). Tomato wastes and by-products: upcoming sources of polyphenols and carotenoids for food, nutraceutical and pharma applications. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 64(29), s. 10546–10563. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2023.2226211
36. Lumley, S. & Armstrong, P. (2003). Some of the nineteenth century origins of the sustainability concept. Environment, Development and Sustainability (6. Ed.), Netherland. Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ENVI.0000029901.02470.a7
37. Madia, V. N., De Vita, D., Ialongo, D., Tudino, V., De Leo, A., Scipione, L., Di Santo, R., Costi, R., & Messore, A. (2021). Recent advances in recovery of lycopene from tomato waste: a potent antioxidant with endless benefits. In Molecules. 26(15), s. 4495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26154495
38. Nour, V., Ionica, M. E. & Trandafir, I. (2015). Bread enriched in lycopene and other bioactive compounds by addition of dry tomato waste. J Food Sci Technol, 52(12), s. 8260–8267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-015-1934-9)
39. Nour, V., Panaite, T. D., Ropota, M., Turcu, R., Trandafir, I. & Corbu, A. R. (2018). Nutritional and bioactive compounds in dried tomato processing waste. CYTA - Journal of Food, 16(1), s. 222–229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19476337.2017.1383514
40. Nowalid, W. F. W. M., Hamid, H. A. & Giwa, S. H. (2024). Development of citrus peel by-product as a slice jam by using two-level factorial design. Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences, 8, s. 100196. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FOCHMS.2024.100196
41. Nuzzo, D., Picone, P., Lozano Sanchez, J., Borras-Linares, I., Guiducci, A., Muscolino, E., Giacomazza, D., Sanfilippo, T., Guggino, R., Bulone, D., Dispenza, C., San Biagio, P. L. & Lapasin, R. (2022). Recovery from food waste - Biscuit doughs enriched with pomegranate peel powder as a model of fortified aliment. Biology, 11(3), s. 416. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/BIOLOGY11030416
42. Piccolo, V., Pastore, A., Maisto, M., Keivani, N., Tenore, G. C., Stornaiuolo, M. & Summa, V. (2024). Agri-food waste recycling for healthy remedies: biomedical potential of nutraceuticals from unripe tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Foods, 13(2), s. 331. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/FOODS13020331
43. Rana, S., Kapoor, S., Bala, M., Surasani, V. K. R., Agarwal, A. & Thakur, M. (2024). Optimization and characterization of tomato seed protein isolate: A sustainable source of functional protein. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 15, s. 14339 – 14356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-06224-7
44. Rudziak, P., Batung, E. & Luginaah, I. (2024). The effects of gases from food waste on human health: A systematic review. PloS One, 19(3), s. e0300801 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0300801
45. Silva, M. A., Albuquerque, T. G., Alves, R. C., Oliveira, M. B. P. P. & Costa, H. S. (2024). Melon peel flour: Utilization as a functional ingredient in bakery products. Food & Function, 15(4), s. 1899–1908. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3FO05268K
46. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (2021). Monitoring framework: A practical handbook for implementation. Erişim adresi: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/d394b597-51e0-44b2-a3dc-dac8c1a51e91/content . Erişim tarihi: 20.10.2025
47. Türkiye Beslenme Rehberi 2022, (2022). T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı (Yayın No: 1031), Ankara. Erişim adresi: https://hsgm.saglik.gov.tr/tr/web-uygulamalarimiz/357.html. Erişim tarihi: 17.10.2025
48. Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (2024). Bitkisel üretim istatistikleri 2024, Tarım ve Orman Bakanlığı. Erişim adresi: https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Bitkisel-Uretim-Istatistikleri-2024-53447. Erişim tarihi: 17.10.2025
49. United Nations (2022a). Day of 8 billion, Erişim adresi: https://www.un.org/en/dayof8billion Erişim tarihi: 07.05.2025.
50. United Nations (2022b). Population and development review, 48(3), s. 903–907. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12512
51. United Nations (2024). Food waste index report 2024. Think eat save. Erişim adresi: https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/food-waste-index-report-2024 Erişim tarihi: 08.010.2025
52. Urugo, M. M., Teka, T. A., Gemede, H. F., Mersha, S., Tessema, A., Woldemariam, H. W. & Admassu, H. (2024). A comprehensive review of current approaches on food waste reduction strategies. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 23(5), s. e70011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.70011
53. van Herpen, E., van der Lans, I. A., Holthuysen, N., Nijenhuis-de Vries, M. & Quested, T. E. (2019). Comparing wasted apples and oranges: An assessment of methods to measure household food waste. Waste Management, 88, s. 71–84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.03.013
54. Van Zanten, H. H. E., Simon, W., Van Selm, B., Wacker, J., Maindl, T. I., Frehner, A., Hijbeek, R., Van Ittersum, M. K. & Herrero, M. (2023). Circularity in Europe strengthens the sustainability of the global food system. Nature Food, 4, s. 320–330. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00734-9
55. Warda, P. (2011). The invention of sustainability. Modern Intellectual History, 8(1), s. 153–170. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479244311000096
56. Wien, H. C. & Stützel, H. (2020). The physiology of vegetable crops (2. Ed). CAB International, ABD. ISBN : 978-1-78639-377-7
57. Wordbank (n.d). Arable land: hectares per person. Erişim adresi: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC . Erişim tarihi: 07.05.2025
58. Zuorro, A., Lavecchia, R., Medici, F. & Piga, L., (2014). Use of cell wall degrading enzymes for the production of high-quality functional products from tomato processing waste, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 38, s. 355-360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3303/CET1438060