Peru’s leading plantain chip producer not only produces a lot of chips from the tropical fruit, but also a lot of byproduct waste from the peels. Transforming agricultural food waste, such as plantain peels, to functional food ingredients is a challenge readily accepted by NC State University researcher, Marvin Moncada, PhD. In collaboration with Peruvian industry partners, Procesadora Tropical/Inka Crops, Moncada has helped develop two high-value functional food ingredients, creating new opportunities for sustainable food manufacturing and circular bioeconomy innovation.

This industry-sponsored project focused on developing and scaling an innovative bioprocessing technology that converts plantain peels into a sugar-rich syrup and a high-fiber flour suitable for commercial food applications. While traditionally considered a low-value byproduct, plantain peels are naturally rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and bioactive compounds that represent an untapped resource for sustainable food ingredient production. These ingredients have potential applications across multiple food categories, including bakery products, beverages, snack foods, and formulated ingredient systems.

The Moncada research team, based at the Plants for Human Health Institute, developed and optimized a scalable enzymatic bioprocessing platform capable of converting the complex carbohydrates naturally present in green plantain peels into a concentrated sugar-rich syrup and a high-fiber flour while eliminating naturally occurring antinutritional compounds. The process was successfully validated through scale-up trials under industrially relevant conditions, and produces shelf-stable ingredients.

Plantain peels represent approximately 45% of the fruit’s total weight. Recovering value from these materials has the potential to reduce food processing waste while creating new economic opportunities for the food industry. Jose Luis Vizarreta, corporate executive leading the initiative at Procesadora Tropical & Inka Crops, emphasized the strategic importance of the technology for the company’s future growth. Importantly, the project originated as his capstone project during the Executive Master in Agribusiness Program jointly offered by INCAE Business School and Zamorano University and has now evolved into a commercial reality.

“The successful completion of this project validates our vision of transforming plantain processing byproducts into high-value food ingredients,” Vizarreta said. What is now becoming a commercial reality began as an industry challenge and evolved into a business opportunity with tremendous growth potential.  “We are excited to move forward with the construction of a dedicated processing facility to manufacture these innovative ingredients at commercial scale. This investment reinforces our commitment to sustainability, innovation, and the development of circular food manufacturing solutions that create long-term value for our company, our customers and the food industry.”

“Our goal was to demonstrate that agricultural byproducts can become valuable resources rather than waste streams,” said Moncada, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist. “By applying our proprietary processing technology, we successfully developed a scalable pathway to recover value from plantain peels while advancing sustainability, innovation, and circular bioeconomy principles.”

This international collaboration demonstrates how strategic partnerships between academia and industry can accelerate the translation of innovative technologies into real-world applications for the food sector. The planned commercial facility represents a step toward reducing food processing waste, creating new value streams, and strengthening more resilient and sustainable food systems.

Technical Accomplishments

• Successful production of a sugar-rich syrup with approximately 55°Brix and low water activity
  • Supports product stability and extended shelf life.
• High-fiber flour co-product.
• Overall solids recovery of approximately 30%
  • Demonstrates the technical feasibility and commercial potential of utilizing plantain peel as a sustainable feedstock for manufacturing multiple value-added food ingredients.

Project Partners

This project was led by Marvin Moncada, PhD of North Carolina State University in collaboration with INNOVAGRUM and the Faculty of Food Science and Technology (FIAL) at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALM) in Lima, Peru. The technology scale-up activities were successfully conducted at the FIAL-UNALM Pilot Plant under the leadership of Eduardo Morales, PhD, Dean of FIAL, and Fernando Vargas, PhD, Head of the Pilot Plant, with institutional support from the Vice Principal for Research, through INNOVAGRUM. Procesadora Tropical and Inka Crops are a subsidiary of Alicorp. Procesadora Tropical primarily supplies raw materials, such as plantains, while Inka Crops is a manufacturer of snack foods, including Inka Chips.