Cattle feed from residual streams halves CO2 emissions

Feeding from food waste streams has a CO2 footprint that is more than half that of traditional cattle feed. This is the outcome of a calculation made by Blonk Environmental Consultants for the Nijsen/Granico animal feed company in Veulen, the Netherlands. The study was carried out according to a method established by the European Union and recognized worldwide: the PEFCR Feed for Food Producing Animals. The outcome was certified by SGS.

Rest streams from the food industry are created as a result of trimmings, production errors, trial productions and production losses from bakeries and factories. By turning them into animal feed, valuable nutrients such as proteins and minerals remain in the food cycle. In this way, organic substances are not lost in the fermenter or waste incinerator, but eventually end up on the consumer's plate as a pork chop or egg.

For decades, the animal feed industry has been processing residual flows from foodstuffs such as brewers' grains, potato steam peels, beet pulp and whey. In addition, traditional animal feeds still consist of specially grown crops such as wheat, corn and soy. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 70% of the world's arable land is currently devoted to farm animals.

The gains to be made by using feed made 100% from residual streams extend beyond reducing the carbon footprint. It also reduces land use and the need to use pesticides or fertilizers. Now that the contribution of livestock feed to the carbon footprint is known, new ways to market animal products with a low carbon footprint are also opening up.

The report Environmental footprint Food for Feed products Nijsen/Granico is available on the website of Blonk Environmental Consultants.

Source: Nijsen/Granico, 08/10/2020