The Surplus Food Problem in the US: Upcycling Transforms Potential Waste into Ice Cream and Pizza

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A novel concept has been introduced by Tyler Malek at his ice cream parlors: the notion that what might be considered rubbish by one cook can be a delightful ingredient for another.

The chief ice cream producer at Salt & Straw, located in Portland, Oregon, creatively uses the leftover whey from New York-based yogurt manufacturers for his lemon curd flavor. Similarly, he incorporates residual rice and grain from beer brewing to formulate his light and creamy chocolate barley milk.

“Rather than labeling this as food waste, we should reframe it as wasted food and actively work towards reducing the amount of waste we generate,” Malek stated.

Salt & Straw is a leading name in the growing upcycling movement, a technique which focuses on producing high-quality goods from leftover food. Its outlets, from the Pacific Northwest to Miami, now showcase unique flavors like “Cacao Pulp & Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato”, concocted from unused cacao pulp from chocolate manufacturing which would have otherwise been discarded.

This innovative approach is becoming increasingly popular as consumers are paying more attention to packaging details and ingredient lists to better understand the origin of their food and its environmental implications. Approximately 40% of the country’s food production, amounting to 35 million tons (or 31 million metric tons) of food, goes to waste every year in the U.S., costing the national economy more than $200 billion, according to data from the Upcycled Food Association.

You can find more and more upcycled food in natural grocery stores, in items such as cake mixes and vegetable chips. These include perfectly good fruits and vegetables that are usually shunned by restaurants and grocery stores due to their shape or color.

To promote this movement, the Upcycled Food Association, which is planning to commemorate World Upcycling Day on Saturday, provides an official “Upcycling Certified” seal to qualifying products. This seal, present on the new Salt & Straw upcycled flavors, serves to educate consumers about the use of these ingredients.

The association began by certifying around 30 products in 2021, and this figure has grown to 450 today.

Angie Crone, the association’s CEO, explained that the rejection of a lot of food is due to outdated aesthetic standards. The seal is a mark customers can spot while shopping, indicating how a company is minimizing food waste in their supply chain.

Products from Renewal Mill, an Oakland-based company that transforms byproducts from plant-based milk into pantry essentials such as baking flour, also carry the association’s seal. This initiative helps curtail waste at the production stage.

Renewal Mill’s co-founder Caroline Cotto said, “Our premier product is the pulp left over from soy milk production, which we convert into a high-fiber gluten-free flour named okara flour. We then utilize this flour to produce baking mixes and ready-to-eat cookies.”

Salt & Straw’s newest “Salted Caramel & Okara Cupcakes” flavor features the company’s okara flour.

The upcycling trend isn’t limited to high-end ice cream shops or natural grocery stores. In San Francisco, a pizza and wine-serving eatery focuses on upcycled ingredients such as imperfectly-shaped mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes and meat offcuts, which are transformed into delicious dishes like beef heart meatballs.

Shuggie’s Trash Pie co-owner Kayla Abe said, “A lot of people have the perception that it’s about dumpster diving or using spoiled ingredients. But the reality is, our food system is hugely overproductive, resulting in a massive amount of waste.” She continued, “Some people might overlook that it’s a beef heart meatball and see just a meatball. But when they order it, they end up saying, ‘That was the best meatball I’ve ever had.’”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Upcycling Food Waste