The Benefits – and Challenges – of Using Upcycled Ingredients

Bigger Table is a partnership between area companies that donate expertise and ingredients (most of which would otherwise become food waste) and the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network (CFBN) [chicagolandfood.org].

Matching efforts to prevent food waste with the needs of food-insecure consumers seems logical. However, Alan Reed, executive director of CFBN, says it can be challenging. To start, “There’s a spectrum of what is considered ‘food waste’ in the food ingredient world,” says Reed. Food ingredients can often be repurposed, making it challenging to define them precisely.

Operationally, time must be spent determining whether “out-of-spec” ingredients (e.g., those intended for a customer but not meeting the customer’s specifications) are usable. “We can use ingredients that may not meet all quality standards, but we would never compromise on food safety,” states Reed.

“In another case, we used an ingredient past the shelf-life date for its original intended use (i.e., where it needed to be crunchy),” Reed explains. “However, it was still appropriate for our purpose, as we planned to add water and boil it before consumption.”

Overall, diverting ingredients from food waste to a higher purpose, such as feeding people, requires considerable creativity, an understanding of the distinction between safety and quality and a passion for reducing hunger in the U.S. by addressing food waste, advises Reed.

Such planning and passion increase the chances of success in using upcycled ingredients. However, when your business involves novel components, experience provides essential expertise.

Vendor challenges

Guar meal, also known as cluster bean meal, was just a by-product of guar gum production, but a few years ago it was discovered to be an excellent source of high-quality protein. Now CoryPro Ingredients [https://www.corypro.com] processes guar meal into human-grade protein concentrates and isolates that align with key industry trends, including plant-based, low-flavor, non-GMO, cost-effective and allergen-friendly.

"This is my third startup focused on upcycled ingredients," says Robert Beausire, CEO of CoryPro. Previous ones were Zea10 LLC, which evolved into Evergrain, and Apparo Inc. Whether working with large CPG or small company brands, Beausire finds the concept of upcycling appeals to product developers in a very positive way.

Launching a food tech startup specializing in upcycled ingredients presents its own set of challenges. First, “Macro ingredients such as protein need a large-scale source of the raw material that must be consistent in quality and [how it would appear on a food label’s] ingredient list,” says Beausire. Guar meal, for example, has a single ingredient, guar, and is available at scale, with over 1.3 million tons produced annually.

Second, Beausire points to the challenge of finding facilities capable of scaling up to small commercial quantities, which is crucial for demonstrating a product's commercial potential to investors. This can be incredibly challenging to nearly impossible when the ingredient is genuinely new or has a novel production process. However, building that capability, either as a small-scale facility or by modifying a co-manufacturing facility, can be critical, as demonstrating the ability to generate revenue ultimately drives future investment in a full-scale facility.

Even at the earliest stages of development, financial realities must be considered. “It always takes twice as long to develop significant sales as what you plan for,” Beausire reflects. “CFO and financial experts always see shortening this timeline as a way to improve the financial picture, but the timeline should not be underestimated.”

Despite these hurdles, Beausire and CoryPro are making progress. “We are self-funded to date but are looking for a seed investment. We are already able to produce samples, have a provisional patent filed and are working on small-scale commercial plans.”

A food processor’s all-In

“We believe that a delicious chicken soup does not need to be made from beautiful, shelf-stunning ingredients,” says Taryn Pellicone, who, along with her cousin Val Zweig co-founded the Prescription Chicken/Chix Soup Co [www.rxchicken.com]. All the company’s products are Upcycled certified.

Instead, the company uses chicken bones (the source of many nutrients), “stubs and nubs” of carrots, onion skins, celery butts and so much more. “We found that using these upcycled ingredients produces just-as-delicious and nutrient-rich soups,” says Pellicone.

Speaking to farmers, Pellicone and Zweig discovered that significant amounts of vegetables were either composted or wasted because they were not suitable for retail sale. That “waste” is put back and simmered into delicious broths and soups.

Pellicone echoes a key challenge mentioned by Beausire. “One of the hardest things about upcycled ingredient use is guaranteeing the supply.” She believes the company’s food processing suppliers are currently not equipped to sell upcycled goods. “Creating sellable goods means they must create a specification for their food products and provide an ample source for us and other [upcycled-using] businesses.” Growing seasons produce supply fluctuations that create major disconnections in the supply chain—and an unsustainable production system results.

Chix Soup Co has overcome this by partnering with numerous local farms and vegetable purveyors nationwide. “We are a part of the Upcycled Food Assn., which connects us to many brands with the same issues,” says Pellicone. “When we get together and talk, we find we have different resources that can help combat supply chain challenges.”

Obtaining Upcycled Certification requires a tremendous amount of work. “We strive to be as upcycled as possible because it’s important to us both personally and for our business. However, it's still not widely recognized by consumers,” says Pellicone.

Chix Soup Co receives excellent feedback when upcycled is mentioned, but they feel people aren’t yet buying solely based on ingredient sourcing. “There’s excitement around diverting waste, but it’s not as top of mind as we’d like. We see both confusion and enthusiasm, but for true impact, we need more brands to embrace upcycling,” says Pellicone.

A brave new world of upcycling

One recent forward-thinking paper, “Food Waste Biotransformation into Food Ingredients: A Brief Overview of Challenges and Opportunities” [https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/13/21/3389]) offers insights into a brave new world where renewable feedstock materials, such as agricultural food waste and by-products, are converted into valuable food components on a vast industrial scale.

The report notes that current food loss and waste (FLW) treatments include landfilling, composting, incineration, conversion to animal feed, production of biofertilizers and energy generation. “However, innovative technologies offer bioconversion processes to produce high-value-added products with reduced reliance on fossil resources and virgin materials,” says José Pinela, a researcher at INIAV I.P. and CIMO/SusTEC and lead author of that report. Additional benefits include reduced global warming and improved food security.

The self-described “mini-review” provides an overview of the challenges in obtaining bio-based functional compounds, such as antioxidants, preservatives, flavorings, sweeteners and prebiotics, among others. “These upcycled ingredients could be alternatives to potentially harmful and artificial additives that are now under scrutiny,” adds Pinela.

Various chemical, biotechnical, and physical processes exist for biomass conversion, but their efficiency is often low. Integrated biotechnological strategies with cascading processing steps would improve efficiency by recovering a multitude of valuable FLW components without requiring the purification of material between each processing step.

Other suggestions for FLW biorefineries include the ability to handle multiple feedstocks, thereby avoiding production slowdowns if a specific resource becomes scarce. Additionally, microbial strains capable of metabolizing multiple feedstocks should be utilized.

The paper notes that new methods for processing bio-based, food-grade ingredients could lead to more natural alternatives to those artificially produced or derived from virgin materials. It goes on to review half a dozen ingredient categories while examining both challenges and opportunities.

For one example, phenolic compounds, known for their bioactive, functional and health-promoting properties, are abundant in FLW. While free phenolics are currently extracted using solvents, microbial fermentation offers a sustainable method to recover bound phenolic compounds.

Solid-state fermentation of pomegranate husks has been found to yield 8 kg of ellagic acid per ton of waste. In another study, the fermentation of green coconut husks by Phanerochaete chrysosporium released ferulic acid, which could then be converted into vanillin.

In another intriguing example, the overuse of antibiotics has led to a growing interest in bioactive peptides, due to their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.

Lactic acid bacteria can produce bacteriocins with broad-spectrum bactericidal or bacteriostatic effects from low-value substrates such as sugar beet pulp, corn stover, cheese whey and mussel processing waste. One bacteriocin, nisin A, is currently authorized as a food preservative (E234) and is the only one produced on an industrial scale. However, production costs remain high; therefore, high-nisin-producing strains and low-cost fermentation substrates have been a focus of research.

“The biorefinery concept for FLW biotransformation holds great potential, but significant advancements are still needed in process efficiency and food safety assurance,” concludes Pinela. “Overcoming these challenges and ensuring consumer acceptance will be crucial for the commercial viability and sustainability of this approach.”