Recovering food losses and wastes as feed for farm animals : a systematic review

Abstract

While society struggles to meet rising food demands and mitigate food security challenges, approximately one-third of the food produced globally is lost or wasted every year. Using food wastes as animal feed offers a solution that simultaneously addresses waste management and food security challenges while reducing the pressure to grow conventional feed, a resource, and environmental burden. The present review examines available literature discussing the feasibility of incorporating food wastes in feeds for fish (14 articles), pigs (28 articles), poultry (21 articles), rabbits (4 articles) and ruminants (14 articles) whilst assessing related safety and logistical concerns. Results suggested that various types of food losses and wastes are generally nutritious, can be converted into safe feeds by modern technologies and can be partially incorporated into animal diets. Animal growth performance in response to various food loss and-or waste substitution rates depended on tested feed sources, animal species, age, and length of the feeding trials. Animals fed waste-based feeds generally had comparable feed conversion ratios to those fed conventional feeds. More attention should be given to characterizing the nutrient variability of food losses and wastes and developing efficient and timely waste collection and transport processes. The present review suggests that partial incorporation of food wastes into animal feeds is a viable solution to mitigate food wastage without compromising animal growth nor health.