The waste food being upcycled into new products

In a two-storey building on the harbour at Refshaleøen, Copenhagen, there is chocolate being tempered in the kitchen; upstairs, plates of tacos and protein bars are being served. This isn't the opening of the latest small plates restaurant, but the brainchild of Rasmus Munk – the two Michelin-starred chef on a mission to "upcycle" what we eat. Munk is one of a growing number of people who believe the future of food lies in what we're already throwing away. With nearly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by lost or wasted food (more than three times that caused by the aviation industry) and almost 40% of all food grown in the US each year thrown away, they hope upcycling – using discarded scraps to help create new food – can tackle the world’s burgeoning edible waste mountain.And so at Spora, the lab a few hundred metres from Munk's restaurant, Alchemist, the chocolate is made from cocoa husks (approximately three-quarters of each cocoa pod is discarded when beans are harvested for chocolate). The tacos, meanwhile, are filled with rapeseed cakes, a high-protein byproduct left over when rapeseed oil is made. The lab was born out of experiments conducted at Alchemist, which prioritises using often-ignored animal products like jellyfish or chicken heads (deep-fried and entirely edible; they grace one of the 50 dishes he serves up to diners each night) and cow's udders, which "taste a little bit like parmigiano"."To turn some of these products that you normally just discard or throw out [into] something that's delicious is for me very important, based on a perspective of making a more sustainable future," says Munk.Effective solutionUnsold or uneaten food is the single-most common material found in US landfills, with the methane released causing biodiversity loss, rising air pollutants and soil degradation. In June, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture released their final National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, outlining ambitions to halve food loss and waste by 2030. While efforts until now have focused on the production and disposal of foods, international bodies are waking up to the idea that repurposing, rather than recycling, may be a more effective solution. Companies seem to be waking up to it, too. In 2021, the upcycled food product market was worth £42bn (US$53.7bn); it will hit £76bn (US$97bn) by 2031. Hot topic"Interest is growing a lot," says Simona Grasso, assistant professor in food science and nutrition at University College Dublin, who is soon to welcome her first PhD student focusing on upcycling. "I think it's a very hot topic," she says, while acknowledging the research is in its infancy.At start-ups across Europe, the US and Asia, used food products are currently being given a second life.Within the food industry, momentum is growing to change that. The Upcycled Food Association, a nonprofit working to prevent food waste, launched in 2019 with the belief that "upcycling presents a unique solution globally"; in the past five years, they have gone from working with nine companies to more than 240 today. They have also rolled out a certification system that flags to consumers which products use ingredients that "otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment".In June, at the Towards Halving Food Waste in Europe conference, the Upcycled4Food Initiative was announced, pledging the transition "from a niche market to widespread use and procurement of upcycled ingredients and products".New businesses And so at start-ups across Europe, the US and Asia, used food products are currently being given a second life in the form of bread, pasta and supplements made from the 40 million tonnes of spent grain typically discarded from beer production; coffee grounds (of which 54 million tonnes are thrown out each year) are being re-spun into gin, flour and energy bars.Coconut flesh, otherwise binned when extracting the water, is now being scooped out and transformed into yoghurt, while fruit and vegetable skins are making their way into dried snacks and juice.Last year, nibs etc, which uses apple pomace (the pulpy residue left over when fruit has been crushed to make juice), launched in cracker and granola form on shelves at Selfridges and Whole Foods in London. They are "25% upcycled, so [there's] loads of natural fibre in that," says Chloë Stewart, its founder. Other products currently in development include biscuits, baking flours and puff snacks. "The connection between wasted food and climate change is severely misunderstood and underestimated," she believes. The environmental benefits aren't only reducing the amount of food that is going to landfill (and thus the amount of methane released), but also "alleviating the pressure on existing supply chains to grow new ingredients and new foods that are, for example, high in fibre or protein".

The waste food being upcycled into new products

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

Please login to leave a comment

The waste food being upcycled into new products

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

Please login to leave a comment

Login