Upcycled Food Association Organizes To Reduce U.S. Food Waste
Upcycling has become a common method of reducing food waste by repurposing food and byproducts otherwise destined for landfills. The Denver-based Upcycled Food Association (UFA) has about 70 member companies that produce roughly 400 upcycled food products. For months, a UFA task force including researchers from Harvard University, Drexel University, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the World Wildlife Fund, and other nonprofit organizations has been working to define “upcycled foods.” On May 19, the UFA issued its final definition: “Upcycled foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment.“
The global economy loses more than $940 billion a year due to food loss and waste, according to a study by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Now a single definition for “upcycled food” allows the development of new product categories in the food industry to reduce waste. Upcycling advocates say upcycled foods could cut over 70 billion tons of greenhouse gases generated by food loss and waste as well as create new jobs.
Trump Urges U.S. Meatpackers to Stay Open During Pandemic
President Donald Trump signed an executive order urging processing plants to remain open based on the Defense Production Act (DPA). Trump intends to keep slaughterhouses open as a part of a critical infrastructure necessary for feeding the country amid growing supply disruptions stemming from the coronavirus lockdown. The decision has sparked a conflict between America’s largest meat producers and unions and activists invested in protecting the health of plant workers.
The executive order was signed just two days after Tyson Foods took out full-page ads in multiple nation-wide newspapers claiming closed processing plants are critical components to the nation’s food supply chain. Plant closures have forced farmers to “depopulate” animals that would otherwise be headed for the dinner table. Milk that can’t be sold to processors is being dumped; poultry broiler operations are throwing away eggs to reduce supplies; and even some produce such as onions and cabbages rot away in fields or are plowed back into the soil due to labor disruptions.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) says if food workers are not kept safe, the food supply won’t be either. At least 20 meat processing plant workers have died, and 5,000 have either tested positive for the virus or been forced to self-quarantine, said UFCW. Even grocery store staff are reluctant to work if safety requirements haven’t been met. “People should never be expected to put their lives at risk by going to work,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. The White House has been discussing the order with meatpacking executives to determine what meatpackers need to stay open and operate safely to prevent food shortages, an administration official said.
2 Million Delmarva Chickens “Depopulated” Due to Lack of Workers
The Delmarva Poultry Industry, a trade organization based in Georgetown, Delaware, reports that two million chickens in Delaware and Maryland will be euthanized due to labor shortages amid the coronavirus. The organization did not name the poultry company involved but emphasized that this was a last-resort decision and the company would use “humane methods” accepted by state regulations and the American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.
According to Delmarva, the decision came after attempting other alternatives, including “allowing another chicken company to transport and process the chickens, and taking a partially processed product to rendering facilities to utilize for other animal feed.” The company stated, “if no action were taken, the chickens would outgrow the capacity of the chicken house to hold them.”
James Fisher, the trade organization spokesman, estimates that this decision will have a “very small” effect on chicken availability among consumers. Last year, Delmarva produced 609 million chickens, representing $3.5 billion in value. Delmarva’s loss of 2 million chickens is about 0.3 percent of last year’s total chicken production. While not a huge loss, this sort of food waste has become a familiar last resort for farmers and food processors throughout the nation.
Belgians Urged To Eat More Fries During Lockdown
As restaurants and sports facilities remain closed, millions of tons of potatoes have gone unsold worldwide. In Belgium, the birthplace of fried potatoes, the government has asked citizens to do their part by eating more frites (fries). Otherwise, more than 750,000 tons of the country’s potatoes could be thrown away. More than 5,000 Belgian frites stands are closed, and Romain Cools, Secretary General of potato industry association Belgapom, confirms that the potato surplus has resulted from low demand in the frozen potato sector. Belgians typically eat frites at least once a week. Now, they’re being asked to eat twice that amount to help save Belgian farmers.
According to Cools, the frozen potato sector accounts for roughly 75% of Belgium’s potato processing. The other 25% of the industry faired well during the pandemic because more people were snacking and cooking at home. Cools reports that the industry could lose €125 million (US$135.5 million) if surplus potatoes are not moved this year. To help the cause, Belgapom has begun an initiative to send 22.7 tons of potatoes a week to food banks. .
Meat Processing Rollbacks Threaten to Increase Food Borne Illness
To keep the U.S meat supply from bottoming out during the pandemic shutdown, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced regulatory rollbacks, expediting meat production. FSIS granted a beef processing plant and 11 poultry plants permission to use higher line speeds. These rollbacks enable chicken processors to slaughter up to 175 birds a minute, or 3 per second, whereas previous line speeds were set at 140 birds a minute. Previous regulations also required a minimum of 4 inspectors at each line, but now only 1 inspector per line is required, even with increased line speeds. Data analysis from the Guardian shows that at least 1 in 10 U.S. poultry slaughterhouses failed government salmonella tests last year. Rates of failure have also reached as a high as 34% in some categories. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), efforts to reduce salmonella outbreaks have largely been unsuccessful, with a 9% rise in the incidence rate over the last three years. Some analysts fear that increased line speeds, fewer government inspectors, and the recent rise in salmonella outbreaks could mean a longer-term reduction in the safety of the U.S. meat supply.
