INTERVIEW 14 F&A Alternative Proteins Edition April 2023 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, figure 1), we refuse to call these products 'waste' since they contain re-usable components such as carbohydrates, fibre, protein, and other nutrients that can be used to produce animal feed. With effective and safe preservation, these products can be diverted from ending up in bio-fuel production or land fill and serve as high quality feed ingredients. Food and beverage production takes place all over the world and is not bound to one specific location. This means that by-products can often be sourced locally, reducing the need for long distance transport or energy consuming drying processes. For example, in the Netherlands, 5.4 million tons of liquid and moist by-products were used by home mixing farms in 2021, which would be roughly equal to 1.25 million tons of dry feed materials (Circular Feed Association). However, in other parts of the world, by-products are not utilised at all and continue to end up as landfill. Our aim is to connect the food- and beverage industry with the animal industry, creating new, powerful partnerships and resulting in long-lasting shared efforts that improve sustainability. Some of the resources that are extremely valuable for both human and animal nutrition are wasted for various reasons. Today, a new recovery model called circular economy is on the agenda in order to eliminate this waste. What is circular economy? What is the place and meaning of the circular economy in the food and feed sector? The term 'circular economy' can be explained in many ways. There is no fixed definition or formula on how to achieve it. Basically, the industry is moving from a traditional linear economy, based on a 'take-make-dispose' approach, where residues are not used, towards a more circular economy, where companies are aware of the losses that occur along the production chain and try to find ways to utilise them. This so-called circular approach emphasises reduce, reuse, and recycle (or upcycle) principles. Today, in our feed and food industry, we might even call it 'infinite economy' as by-streams from one process can supply animal protein producers who in turn supply by-products to the food and beverage industry in a never-ending cycle (figure 2). Our role within Selko is to connect the dots within the infinity cycle and to effectively preserve nutritious by-products to ensure their value within the food-to-feed chain. Figure 1. Food waste hierarchy (Source: European Commission)
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