A Review of the Primary By-product (Nejayote) of the Nixtamalization During Maize Processing: Potential Reuses

The production of nixtamalized products worldwide has been increased over past decades. The first pre-treatment applied to maize is the well-known Nixtamalization procedure, which produces large quantities of its primary by-product called ‘Nejayote’; this by-product is commonly discarded into the urbanized sewage without any additional treatment. Recently, Nejayote has attracted attention due to its high organic load based on high content of organic (arabinoxylans, phenolic compounds, sugars, fibers) and inorganic compounds (calcium). Thus, this by-product may have potential for value-added processing and utilization, which can be alternatives, that simultaneous hold the promise of increased economic benefit for masa producers as well as decreased potential pollution for the environment. The goal of this paper is to provide a critical review of reusing this primary by-product. State-of-the-art of developments in the field are chronologically reported and described. Particular attention is paid to experimental results reported for the reclamation of its high-added value compounds that have been identified as the potential approach concerning on the utilization of the by-product. The recovered components have demonstrated biological activities that increase their potential exploitation.