Antioxidant activity of olive pomace: application in sustainable feed and food-tech systems

The increasing demand for sustainability and food security in agri-food and livestock systems has driven the valorisation of agro-industrial co-products. This study investigated olive pomace (OP), a co-product of oil production, for its nutritional and functional potential through in vitro digestion (INFOGEST 2.0), simulated piglet diet formulations, and cell culture assays. OP exhibited a valuable nutritional profile, particularly for lipid content (18.10 ± 0.07 g/100 g), although characterised by low dry matter digestibility (31.49 ± 1.57%). During digestion, OP maintained a notable antioxidant capacity. When incorporated in vitro into simulated piglet diets at 2.5 and 5%, OP enhanced functional activity without significantly affecting digestibility compared to the control. In C2C12 muscle cell cultures, MTT assays showed that food-grade extracted OP supported cell viability after 24 h at concentrations of 0.015 mg/mL (105.76 ± 5.91%), 0.03 mg/mL (101.27 ± 5.28%), and 0.07 mg/mL (102.51 ± 5.95%). However, cell viability remained significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in cultures supplemented with 10% FBS. Overall, these results highlight the potential of OP as a sustainable functional ingredient, yet to be optimised for cellular agriculture applications.