## 1 Introduction  
In modern life, the long working hours of people globally and their limited free time are the major causes for increasing the consumption of ready-to-eat products [1], of which an important part is represented by snack products [2]. Of these, extruded snack products made from cereals, especially corn-based snacks, achieved wide acceptance among people of all ages and great popularity among children and young people [3, 4]. People following vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are also interested in these products, while corn-based extruded snacks are of interest to those having gluten intolerance or celiac disease. However, the frequent consumption of snack products is associated with negative health effects and poor dietary habits, being considered a contributing factor to overweight or obesity [5]. A wide range of extruded snack products are produced worldwide due to the numerous advantages of the extrusion technique, such as continuous production, versatility,lower processing costs, and high yields with lower energy consumption [6]. However, the high cooking temperatures used in the extrusion process (180-190 \({}^{\circ}\)C), even if for short periods of time (20-40 s), combined with the action of high pressure and shear forces, lead to several nutritional transformations such as starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, and inactivation of raw food enzymes. Moreover, corn-based extruded snacks are not typically regarded as healthy foods due to their poor nutritional and antioxidant value, characterized by a high starch content and low levels of vitamins, dietary fiber, protein, microelements, and bioactive compounds [7]. As the number of people who are concerned about having a healthy diet has continuously increased, food manufacturers have struggled to create innovative snack products with higher nutritional value and functionality [8], and the market for \"clean label\" healthy snacks is constantly growing nowadays [9]. One way to enhance the nutritional and antioxidant properties of snack products is to incorporate ingredients with high nutritional value and functionality into their formulations [10]. The widespread consumption of corn-based extruded snacks makes them suitable carriers for bioactive compounds. Therefore, the supplementation of raw cereal material with phenolic compounds or enriching with dried or lyophilized powders of fruits, vegetables, herbs, seeds, or by-products before extrusion appears to be a good strategy [8; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16]. [PERSON] et al. [17] evaluated the enrichment of corn-based gluten-free crisps with dried fruits (apple, white mulberry, goji berry, elderberry, and blackberry). [PERSON] et al. [4] proposed the incorporation of barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_) fruit powder in the puffed corn formulation, while [PERSON] et al. [18] investigated the functional and sensory characteristics of vegetable-enriched extrudates containing brocoli flour or olive paste as a rich source of bioactive compounds and fibers. However, it is noteworthy that the high contents of dietary fiber, lipids, and protein from these natural additives induce physical and chemical changes in the extrusion process, and, as well, a series of modifications occur during extrusion on the content and bioaccessibility of antioxidant compounds [19]. In addition, the ingredients and additives play an important role in determining the quality and texture characteristics of the extruded snacks [20]; therefore, when supplementing, it is important to keep in mind the sensory acceptability of these products, as consumers have certain expectations regarding their sensory profile (appearance, taste, texture). The by-products from fruit juice processing, called pomaces, consisting mainly of skins and seeds, are abundant sources of health-promoting compounds, such as vitamins, dietary fiber, essential fatty acids, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds [21], and can be used as an ingredient in new value-added food products [22; 23].