One industry’s “waste” can be the alternative protein industry’s want
How we can combat food waste and loss with alternative proteins.
In the United States, we waste the equivalent of 145 billion meals every year.
That means nearly 40 percent of all food goes unsold or uneaten. These statistics are difficult to reconcile with the sheer number of people who experience food insecurity in this country: 44.2 million in 2022 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In higher-income countries like the U.S., around 39 percent of food loss and waste happens during manufacturing, in large part because food processing creates several edible by-products that are landfilled, composted, or used for animal feed. This is where alternative proteins—meat made from plants, cultivated from animal cells, or produced via fermentation—provide a key solution.
The alternative protein industry has the potential to reduce food loss, turning byproducts into nutritious food to sustainably feed our growing population. In some cases, it already is—but more research and investment are needed if the industry is to realize its full potential.
Building a more circular economy with less waste
Food loss and waste (FLW) is food produced for human consumption that leaves the human food supply chain for any reason. Food loss is considered loss of edible food from the supply chain during farming and manufacturing, while food waste refers to loss within retail, food service, and households.
FLW is a pricey problem for both our economy and the climate. We lose roughly 437 billion dollars or 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP alongside our wasted food. It also produces annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 30 percent of U.S. passenger vehicles–not to mention the waste of finite resources like water, land, and energy that were used to produce that food.
In 2024, the White House released the ‘National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics’ to enable a “more circular economy, reduce GHG emissions, save households and businesses money, and build cleaner, healthier communities.” One key element of that strategy is the collaboration between the US government and industry, like the alternative protein industry, to repurpose raw and waste materials to their highest value.
“To build a more circular economy for all, EPA, USDA, and FDA seek to highlight opportunities to use raw materials more efficiently, recover valuable resources from discarded materials, enable those resources to be used for their highest value, and help regenerate soils.”
Upcycling food is one of the most effective ways to combat food waste because it keeps edible materials in the human food supply chain, limiting the waste of food and the resources used to produce it. Alternative proteins offer an incredible opportunity to turn waste byproducts into high-value food for people. By upcycling agricultural and food processing byproducts, alternative protein production can be embedded into circular economies that produce food more efficiently, affordably, and sustainably. This not only cuts waste, but results in more plant-based product choices for consumers — a win-win-win for our stomachs, wallets, and environment.
Keeping more food in the human food supply with alternative proteins
The good news is many plant-based meat companies are already upcycling some of the processing by-products of high-volume production crops like wheat, peas, and soybeans.
Many of the top 10 plant-based meat retail brands use soy protein, pea protein, or wheat gluten as the primary protein ingredient in their products. Soy, pea, and wheat are grown in large amounts, and using their protein-rich by-products for plant-based meat means more food stays in the human food supply.
Top 10 plant-based meat retail brands protein sources.
This is just the beginning of the potential of alternative proteins to turn food loss and waste into human food. The key to harnessing this potential is by connecting ingredient manufacturers and agricultural product companies, equipped with access and expertise, to identify and tap into the variety of crop by-products with high potential for upcycling. However, with strong supply chains and marketplaces, it is easier to determine which sidestreams are most promising. That is why we took a closer look.
The Good Food Institute’s Cultivating alternative proteins from commodity crop sidestreams analysis identifies several high-volume crop by-products produced in North America that are well-positioned to become inputs for alternative protein production.
The analysis unveiled two key insights:
The alt protein opportunity to upcycle by-products is growing: In 2030, sidestreams from corn production alone could exceed 500 million metric tons per year, with significant additional sidestream volume from soy, wheat, sugarcane, barley, rice, canola, and tomatoes. This presents an incredible opportunity to upcycle materials that would otherwise go to landfill or animal feed.
Historical crop product and forecasted crop volumes to 2030.
Multiple crop by-products are well positioned as inputs to alternative proteins: Just like the conventional meat industry uses almost all parts of the animal, the alternative protein industry can do the same, facilitating a food system that utilizes every part of the plant or biomass source. The protein fractions found in these crops are well-suited for use in plant-based meat and as a source of amino acids and small peptides for the cell culture media used to produce cultivated meat. The remaining sugar, cellulose, and starch fractions can be used as feedstock for microbial fermentation.
If you want to deep dive into upcycling crop sidestreams for alternative protein production, check out our report!
Prioritizing alternative proteins as a food loss solution
To take advantage of this upcycling opportunity, research and development are required to understand and improve by-product functionality and conversion into alternative protein inputs. Additionally, public and private investment is required to increase the volume of production and consumption of plant-based meat.
This need was recently highlighted in the groundbreaking “Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing” report, released in March 2023 by the Biden-Harris administration, which compiles recommendations from five key executive agencies and outlines a strategic vision for the American bioeconomy.
Both the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy highlighted alternative proteins as crucial elements in the future of biotechnology and proposed measures to support research and development, commercialization, scale-up, and public-private partnerships.
This vote of support is huge. Now, we must maintain momentum to help the alternative protein industry turn today’s waste into high-value, nutritious food to sustainably feed our growing population.
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