Atti del XXXII Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Merceologiche

Chocolate is a cocoa-based food, which is mainly grown in the so-called "cocoa belt," which includes the equatorial countries of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, and Ecuador. World cocoa production amounts to 5.8 Mt/year, intended to meet the consumption of 17.3 million kg/year of confectionery chocolate, which contributes making their products worthy of attention. It is worth noting that these psychoactive foods are composed of about 600 different Bioactive Compounds (BCs) (i.e., polyphenols, alkaloids, etc.), that are responsible for the nutritional quality promoting effects on human health. So, it is important to verify the study for obtaining such bioactive components by different extraction methods. For the chemical analyses of food matrices, conventional organic solvents are widespread as an efficient extraction solvent for BCs; nevertheless, their significant impact on the environment, and human health is not overlooked. Therefore, the possibility of using more sustainable solvents and adopting miniaturized methods could be a possible strategy to improve environmental sustainability and human health, while enabling efficient extraction yields. In this regard, the study aims to evaluate the environmental sustainability of different methods for the extraction of bioactive compounds from dark chocolate, considering a miniaturization of the analysis, through the application of Life Cycle Assessment using SimaPro 9.5 software. Furthermore, the analysis will also be supported by Life Cycle Costing to assess the cost-effectiveness of the methods and economic sustainability.