Valorisation of horticultural species and aromatic/medicinal plants typical of Campania biodiversity used in new foods and value-added spices production by means of new processing technologies

In the last ten years the sector of functional foods, the so-called nutraceuticals, has steadily increased in the national economy. Among nutraceuticals the herbal products (prebiotic and probiotic) represent an area of increasing scientific and also economic interest, considering their high increase in sales. One of the most critical aspects in developing vegetable products is the quality of row material. The medicinal plants used in nutraceuticals’ preparation come from spontaneous collection or cultivation; 75-90% of medical plants sold in the world comes from spontaneous collection while cultivation, although it is constantly increasing, is still limited. In Europe for the most widely used species agricultural and industrial systems of production have been developed based on intensive farming systems. The most interesting medical plants for domestic market are 296 species; 48% of these are cultivated or are suitable for cultivation in our country. Therefore the cultivation of these species in the next future will be crucial if compared with the harvest of spontaneous plants. The importance of technological treatments in foods consists in guaranteeing food safety and in improving their nutritional, sensorial and functional properties by using processes based on temperature’s control, radiation and other physical and chemical treatments. Microwave radiation has been proposed for the partial dehydration of vegetable products since it is functional to the inhibition of microbial proliferation and, hence, to products’ preservation. Microwave extractive processes can modify the composition of vegetable extracts by enriching them of high-quality compounds.