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Abstract For centuries livestock have had a significant role as ‘upcyclers’, with the ability to convert inedible food into high quality protein in the form of meat, milk, or fiber. Currently, a large portion of the feed utilized in livestock production systems includes grains, pulses and oilseeds, as well as other commodities that fail to reach the quality grade required for human consumption. In addition to these on-farm or near farm losses, by-products from food and industrial processing including alcohol and biofuel production, oilseeds, as well as fruit and vegetable processing generate significant waste. The Canadian livestock industry has progressed from using these by-products of crop production and food processing, to including surplus food that is redirected from landfills to livestock feed. In Canada, total annual food loss and waste equates to 35.5 million MT of which 32% is avoidable. Food loss is associated with low-quality or human indigestible by-products during the production, processing, and distribution stages of the supply chain, whereas food waste is defined as food that is not consumed at the retail, food service, and consumer stages of the food supply chain. Diverting food loss and waste to livestock and poultry feed has important environmental, economic, and social impacts, including improved global food security, and decreasing greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, as well as land and water use. There are global efforts to improve the utilization of both food loss and waste, however, challenges exist including economic viability, collection and distribution logistics, regulatory restrictions, and feed safety. A coordinated approach between livestock producers, food processors, feed suppliers, researchers, policy makers and retailers is critical for the development of successful strategies for inclusion of food loss and waste in livestock diets.
Terry et al. (Sun,) studied this question.