The upcycling economy and upcycled foods are emerging on the international scene as a revolution after decades of overproduction of surplus and wasted food (1,2).
Reuse of food loss and food waste reduces business costs and is promoted with new marketing levers inspired by sustainable food production and consumption.
1) Upcycled Food Association (UFA)
UFA, Upcycled Food Association, is the association formed in Denver (Colorado, USA) that brings together more than 250 companies, worldwide, to foster supply chain synergies and promote a special certification system.
‘Certified Upcycled’ is the collective mark featured on several hundred ingredients and products where at least 10 percent of the raw materials are derived from upcycling. With a total recovery estimated at nearly one million tons of food.
2) Upcycling economy, because.
‘Over 30% of all food produced globally is lost or goes to waste, and that’s a big problem for society and the planet. Upcycled food prevents this problem by creating new, high-quality products from surplus food‘ (UFA).
Virtuous recovery can thus restore value to commodities-now wasted-whose production took up 20 percent of water resources, 25 percent of cultivated land, and 8 percent of greenhouse gases produced in agrifood supply chains.
3) Upcycling business
‘60% of people want to buy more upcycled food products, and that’s because 95% of us want to do our part to reduce food waste‘ (Upcycled Food Association).
The U.S. market launch of new upcycled foods, +122% in the five-year period ending in the third quarter of 2021, has surpassed that of products with recycled plastic packaging and those with carbon footprint claims.
The value of sales is currently estimated at about $46.7 billion. The volumes of materials diverted from food waste in turn would show a significant increase (+6.4 percent, 2022 over 2021).
4) Upcycled foods, the 5 distinctive elements according to UFA
Upcycled Food Association organized a panel of experts-from Harvard Law School, Drexel University, Natural Resources Defense Council, WWF and ReFED-in 2020 to develop a definition of ‘upcycled foods. It was thus possible to converge on the 5 distinctive elements of foods obtained by upcycling.
4.1) Ingredients otherwise intended for secondary uses.
Ingredients used in upcycled foods are diverted from the various secondary uses described in the Lansink scale, a paradigm of the circular economy.
Produce food instead of waste to be recycled into feed or fertilizer (compost), energy valorization (i.e., anaerobic digesters), waste destination.
4.2) Value added
Upcycling processes recover and convert value that would otherwise be lost in secondary uses of materials (see above) to create a sustainable and resilient food system.
The added value should also be redistributed in the supply chain, we add. So that everyone, from farm to fork, can benefit economically as well. Win-win.
4.3) Human consumption (and pet food)
Upcycling is to elevate food to its noblest destiny, to nourish human beings. That is, to offer goods of similar value (e.g., dietary supplements, drugs, cosmetics).
The ‘Upcycled Certified‘ label is, moreover, also granted to pet food, for business reasons that in the writer’s opinion poorly reconcile with the criterion underlying upcycling (see section 4.1).
4.4) Verifiable supply chain
The supply-chain needs to come under scrutiny, according to UFA experts, for recycled food to truly help reduce waste.
The rationale is to use all the nutrients grown on farms and help farmers derive more value from their activities.
4.5) Transparency in labeling
‘Upcycled certified’ foods, therefore subject to UFA’s certification system, must then provide transparent label news.
Consumers need to be able to understand which ingredients are derived from upcycling in order to be inspired to contribute to the fight against food waste.
5) Innovation, empowerment
Agricycle Global has begun working with 35 thousand small-scale farmers, in rural communities in various areas of the planet, to offer low-barrier technologies useful in turning waste into food ingredients.
Jali Fruit Co. works to empower women, youth and small-scale farmers in 40 cooperatives in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Accessible innovation to reduce food waste and food loss in fruit growing, harvesting and processing.
The Sabina Agricultural Producers Network in central Italy aspires to produce snacks and semi-finished products from discarded fruit with solar dryers developed by Crea (Center for Agri-Food Engineering and Transformation). (4)
6) Fermentation
Ferment’Up. Green Spot Technologies, founded in Ramonville-Saint-Agne (Occitania, France) with EU grants, uses an eco-designed fermentation process to produce nutrient-dense flours from tomato pulp, apple peels, brewery spent grains, etc.
Regrained in Berkeley (California, USA) in turn derives an innovative flour high in protein and prebiotic fiber, SuperGrain+®, from the fermentation of grains used to extract malt in breweries. And so it produces dough, functional snacks, and high value-added ingredients for bakery and other sectors.
#SDG12, Target 12.3. By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
Dario Dongo and Giulia Pietrollini
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Upcycling the high road of research and innovation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.1.2023
(2) Giulio Vulcano, Dario Dongo, Food waste, a systemic approach to address the ecological and social crisis. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 17.3.19
(3) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Upcycling, ameliorative reuse in the food supply chain. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.10.21
(4) FruFun. Low-impact production of innovative functional foods with fruit produced by farms in the Sabine area. Innovarurale https://www.innovarurale.it/it/pei-agri/gruppi-operativi/bancadati-go-pei/produzione-basso-impatto-ambientale-di-alimenti
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in industrial biotechnology and passionate about sustainable development.
