## 4 Conclusions  
The findings generated from this study provide solid evidence of the antioxidant properties of red and yellow bell pepper processing by-products. Both the RBPB and YBPB are valued sources of bioactive compounds with proven antioxidant properties that can be exploited in a variety of food products. The trend recorded with the FRAP value of both fresh and dried bell pepper by-products is in line with that recorded with the DPPH radical scavenging activity and closely aligned with the TPC and TFC content. The innovation of this study resides in exploiting the potential of bell pepper processing by-products to create value-added nitrite-free sausage formulations. In addition, the procedure for establishing the amounts of the DYBPB and DRBPB included in the recipe of sausage formulas to ensure particular levels of TPC represents a novel approach. It was found that the incorporation of the DRBPB and DYBPB into the sausage recipe as a substitute for sodium nitrite improved the nutritional profile of the samples, providing higher ash and lower fat content compared to the control samples. The most important aspect related to the supplementation of sausage formulations with the DYBPB and DRBPB consisted of limiting the primary and secondary oxidation processes of lipids, thus contributing to increase their oxidative stability. A dose of the DYBPB providing a minimum TPC of 270 mg GAE/kg of processed meat resulted in similar values of specific chemical indices used to assess oxidative stability to those obtained in samples with sodium nitrite. In addition, a dose of DRBPB ensuring a minimum TPC of 180 mg GAE/kg of processed meat had an effect close to that shown when sodium nitrite was used in the sausage recipe. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of dried red and yellow bell pepper processing byproducts to replace sodium nitrite in pork sausages in terms of antioxidant potential and promote their use as natural additives to delay or limit oxidative degradation processes in nitrite-free sausages involving different technological flows, both smoking and drying and smoking and scaling. For an in-depth evaluation of the effectiveness of bell pepper processing by-products for use as an alternative to sodium nitrite in meat products, further studies will be conducted to assess the impact of supplementation with the DRBPB and DYBPB on microbiological and sensory properties of sausage formulations. Thus, the use of bell pepper processing wastes could become a promising solution to develop innovative nitrite-free sausage formulations. Our data also contributes to the development of knowledge on enhancing the functionality of meat products by boosting levels of high-value bioactive compounds. Conceptualization, I.C., A.-I.C., M.N. and M.-A.P. ; methodology, I.C., A.-I.C., M.N., E.A., D.O. and M.-A.P. ; validation, I.C., E.A., I.R. and M.-A.P. ; formal analysis, I.C., A.-I.C., M.N., D.O. and M.-A.P. ; writing--original draft preparation, I.C., A.-I.C., M.N., E.A., D.O., I.R. and M.-A.P. ; writing--review and editing, I.C., A.-I.C., M.N., E.A., D.O., I.R. and M.-A.P. ; visualization, I.C., M.N., E.A., I.R. and M.-A.P. ; supervision, I.C., E.A., I.R. and M.-A.P. ; funding acquisition, I.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research paper is supported by the project \"Increasing the impact of excellence research on the capacity for innovation and technology transfer within USAMVB Timisoara\", project code 6 PFE, submitted in the competition Program 1--Development of the national system of research--development, Subprogram 1.2--Institutional performance, Institutional development projects--Development projects of excellence in R.D.I. Not applicable. The report of the analyzes performed for the samples in the paper can be found at the Interdisciplinary Research Platform (PCI) belonging to the University of Life Sciences \"King Michael I\" from Timisoara.