Analysis: a new life for food waste in pet food?

The pet industry is increasingly recognizing the potential of upcycling food waste and alternative proteins into ingredients for pet food. GlobalPETS shares the latest developments.

Chicken meat waste into pet food

An experimental meat processing plant in Kannur, a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, will process leftover meat from shops into aquaculture feed and pet food, tackling the problem of discarded food waste on roads.

The 30-metric-ton (MT) plant, established in a public-private partnership with Bengaluru-based Bana Eco Works and Mahadevapura Task Force, is expected to start operations this summer.

It is anticipated that 7.5 MT of protein meal from every 30 MT of chicken meat waste will be processed in 4 to 4.5-hour batches. The plant will double its production quantity and include fish meat waste in the future if the project is successful.

The plant has received an investment of ₹5 crore ($599K/€558K) for its first development phase and awaits consent from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to start operations.

Converting food waste and scraps

The local government of Sydney, the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), is finding ways to process food waste scraps.

It is conducting a 12-month trial with biotech startup Goterra to use black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to process 600 tons of food waste into protein-rich animal feed, pet food material, and fertilizer.

The setup will be located 5 kilometers from the city to reduce fuel costs and emissions. It will be operational in late 2024 and make use of the 21,000 households that have signed up for the city’s food waste recycling trial.

Mushrooms to healthy protein

Sinonin Biotech, a German food technology company, has received an investment to convert mushrooms into healthy proteins for different applications, including dog food.

The business is part of ZEST, an EU-backed consortium of 12 companies from Germany, Spain, Denmark and Latvia, which has received a capital injection of €59.7 million ($64M).

Company Founder Seronei Chelulei Cheison will lead the formulation of the dog food product. He has a wealth of experience in the pet food industry through his role at Mars Petcare, where he was responsible for leading alternative protein innovation and palatant development.

The company, using bioreactors to grow fungi, has the overall task of extracting mycoprotein and nutrients from mycelia biomass, conducting safety assessment tests and evaluating the functionality of ingredients in pet food prototypes.