the united states faces significant environmental burden to treat and transport ˜ 0 . 61 billion kg of defective tomatoes every year . the present disclosure provides for the treatment and processing of culled tomatoes in microbial - electrochemical systems , using the microbial fuel cell as a model reactor . the fundamental differences between the long - term oxidative behavior of unprocessed culled tomatoes compared to the three readily soluble substrates are disclosed . ac electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyses indicate the influential impedance contributions of the peel & amp ; seed to the cull oxidation . cyclic voltammetry tests indicate that the indigenous redox - active pigments in the cull influence the faradaic processes involved in the cull oxidation .