Turning food waste into prawn feed

Australia produces over 5.3 million tonnes of food waste annually (3.1 million from households and 2.2 million tonnes from commercial and industrial sectors), which has severe environmental, economic and social impacts. To show commitment in addressing this challenge, the Australian Government have implemented a national strategy with the target of halving Australia’s food waste by 2030.

There are multiple strategies to deal with the high volume of food waste, and reduction and re-utilisation of food waste are the central to the strategy. Due to the sheer volume and type of food waste produced, multiple avenues are required for proper utilisation of food waste where re-using food waste in animal feed is one approach.

CSIRO and Food Recycle Ltd are working together on a collaborative research project to investigate the inclusion of food waste in feed for Australian aquaculture production. Food Recycle Ltd is an Australian company that collects food waste from multiple locations including restaurants, pubs, hospitals, fresh food markets, bakeries and food processing facilities, and utilise patented processes to transform the waste material into ingredients suitable for animal feed use. CSIRO will validate these food waste ingredients in feed for aquaculture.

An alternative source for aquaculture feed

There is an ongoing focus in aquaculture nutrition research to find new and alternative nutrient sources that do not rely on wild-caught marine derived ingredients (e.g. fish meal and fish oil) or ingredients that are already heavily utilised by other animal production (e.g. soybean meal). However, the options for other ingredients are limited due to many factors relating to their nutrient composition and obtaining a constant supply.

Food waste could provide a new, affordable and readily accessible nutrient source for locally produced Australian aquaculture. Due to the mixture of sources, food waste can be a diverse source of micronutrients including vitamins, minerals and lesser understood nutrients like nucleotides and organic acids which may be required by some aquatic animals. In this way, food waste may be able to meet the requirements for lesser known trace nutrients which would otherwise be deficient in ingredients derived from a single plant source like soybean meal.

Although there are many potential benefits to the use of food waste for aquaculture feed, its success will rely on its nutrient profile and bioavailability. Re-utilising food waste is complicated because of the highly variable composition, making it almost impossible to obtain consistent batches. Another consideration is the availability of nutrients from food wastes where fractions which are indigestible for humans (e.g. vegetable peelings and bones) may have poor utilisation for aquaculture species. However, such wastes can become more available through processing methods.

In this collaborative project, we will assess formulation strategies to include food waste into aquaculture feed and assessed the nutrient bioavailability in two key Australian aquaculture species: black tiger prawns and barramundi. See the video above which describes the R&D activities between CSIRO and Food Recycle Ltd.

CSIRO Kick-Start is an initiative for innovative Australian start-ups and small businesses, providing funding and support for innovative Australian start-ups and small businesses to access CSIRO’s research and development (R&D) expertise and capabilities.

The CSIRO Kick-Start program provides dollar-matched funding vouchers of between AUD$10,000-$50,000 and access to CSIRO expertise and capabilities to help grow and develop their business.

Contacts:

Ha Truong – CSIRO Livestock & Aquaculture, Research Scientist, CSIRO