Food waste for livestock feeding: Feasibility, safety, and sustainability implications

Food waste is a matter intrinsically linked with the growing challenges of food security, resource and environmental sustainability, and climate change. In developed economies, the largest food waste stream occurs in the consumption stage at the end of the food chain. Current approaches for dealing with the wasted food have serious limitations. Historically, livestock animals had functioned as bio-processors, turning human-inedible or -undesirable food materials into meat, eggs, and milk. Contemporary treatment technologies can help convert the food waste into safe, nutritious, and value-added feed products. Recovering consumption-stage food waste for animal feeding is a viable solution that simultaneously addresses the issues of waste management, food security, resource conservation, and pollution and climate-change mitigation.