Article 5: These startups are turning surplus food into new consumer products

We live in a country where perfectly good food is wasted because of cosmetics—it doesn’t pass the beauty test. People have been trained to think if food is ugly it bad. And it has led to countless to a lot of waste as vegetables that look hideous are tossed out and never make it to the stores. I thought we should follow Europe’s example and start selling the “Ugly” vegetables for less. Then I ran across this article and I was intrigued by these individuals who came up with ideas on getting more products and food that’s already been consumed and considered as waste. Some of the companies include:

• Drexel University Food Lab – America loves avocadoes. And graduates Sheetal Bahirat and Christa Kwaw-Yankson came up with a fruity tasting pink tea made from avocado pits.
• Lazy Bear Tea – Daniela Uribe founded it with Erik Ornitz and Drew Fink. Lazy Bear Tea sells a drink made from dried cascara and “when steeped in hot water tastes not like coffee but like a smooth black tea” and is sold in more than 30 Boston stores.
• ReGrained – A certified B Corporation in San Francisco that takes used grains from mid-sized breweries to create snack bars. This provides the breweries with another source of revenue and they can tell their customers about their sustainable cause. It was founded in 2013 by Daniel Kurzrock and Jordon Schwartz.

Two of the biggest issues with the idea of turning the surplus food into a new product are the fears associated with health risks as well as the fact you don’t want to add more ingredients to save one. One way ReGrained has tackled the issue of the fear of being liable for food safety is by partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The job of the USDA was to assure consumers “that ReGrained’s process was operating safely and efficiently.”

Source: GreenBiz

Author: Danielle Beurteaux

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/these-startups-are-turning-surplus-food-new-consumer-products