NOSHAN

Sustainable Production of Functional and Safe Feed from Food Waste

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Food processing activities produce in Europe large amounts of by-products and waste. Such waste streams are only partially valorized at different value-added levels (spread on land, animal feed, composting), whereas the main volumes are managed as waste of environmental concern, with relevant negative effects on the overall sustainability of the food processing industry. The main focus of NOSHAN is to investigate the process and technologies needed to use food waste for feed production at low cost, low energy consumption and with maximal valorisation of starting wastes materials. Nutritional value and functionality according to animal needs as well as safety and quality issues will be investigated and address as main leading factors for the feed production using food derived (fruit/plant and dairy). According to this not only wastes will be characterized for their nutritional potential, but suitable technologies to stabilize them and convert them into suitable raw materials for bulk feed will be researched. Two different groups of activities will be thus addressed: From one side, replacement of bulk feed ingredients (constituting up to 90-95% of feed weight) will be studied from the starting waste materials. These bulk materials could cope part of the huge amounts of food waste generated in Europe. From the other side, the valorisation of active ingredients as well as the upgrade of waste into more valuable feed additives will be studied. The later constitute approximately the half of the feed cost. The main expected result of NOSHAN project is the creation of a broad portfolio of valorised wastes for feed production. In this sense, a selection of wastes according to their potential nutritional properties, quantities produced, seasonality, possibility of stabilisation, safety and regulatory issues, cost and logistics will be performed during the first phase of the project.. In order to improve nutritional content of feed and be able to fulfil animal needs, waste will be treated alone or mixed with other waste looking for complementation and synergistic effects. The characterisation at molecular level of the different waste streams will allow providing the best technology for the best raw material to obtain the desired nutritional/functional properties. In NOSHAN a variety of high-advanced technologies for conditioning, stabilising by physico-chemical and biological strategies, extracting high-added value compounds and feed production will be tested, developed and integrated in an innovative low-cost and low energy tailor made procedure for valorising food waste for production of safety and compound functional feed. All these initiatives will be validated in in vitro and in vivo tests to the final animal derived products intended for human consumption. Therefore a whole value chain from starting raw materials to exploitable products and technologies will be covered and monitored with a LCA with a further validation using the novel ETV platform.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

About one third of the food produced for humans globally is lost or wasted, leading to the squandering and depletion of natural and human resources. EU scientists are developing cost-efficient technologies to better manage food waste.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The food processing industry in Europe could do more to maximise the value of waste and by-products. Transforming waste into valuable materials or a potential revenue source will reverse the negative impact on the environment and boost the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the sector. The growing opportunity to benefit from food waste depends on assessing its nutritional value while ensuring quality and safety.

To achieve this, the EU-funded project 'Sustainable production of functional and safe feed from food waste' (http://noshan.eu (NOSHAN)) has set out to use food waste as animal feed and feed additives in an economical and energy-friendly way.

During the first reporting period, researchers created a guide that contains an extensive collection of the main food waste and by-products in Europe. These food waste streams include fruit, vegetables, plants and dairy. Their suitability for feed production is based on nutritional and functional elements as well as on undesirable contaminants.

The team developed innovative methods to produce and remove specific feed additives from food waste. This will deliver a more economical and sustainable treatment method able to treat various waste sources and their combinations.

Several cutting-edge technologies are currently being designed, piloted and integrated into existing practices to produce safe, low-cost and nutritionally rich feed.

The tools and technologies being developed by NOSHAN for safe feed and additives are expected to have a direct socioeconomic and environmental impact on European society.