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The EU is investing over €4 billion in research and innovation for a European bioeconomy that makes the most of our renewable biological resources. The EU is the source of 18% of world food exports, worth €76 billion. But in the EU and elsewhere, agricultural waste is holding farmers back and costing taxpayers money – between €55 and €99 per tonne.
Turning agricultural waste into animal feed – the solution favoured by EU-funded research project NOSHAN – would open up new opportunities for farmers while cutting Europe’s dependence on feed imports. This would, in turn, create new green jobs in waste collection, treatment plants and feed manufacturing.
The NOSHAN project will turn food waste – in particular fruit, vegetables and dairy – into animal feed, at low cost and, while keeping energy consumption low.
The team – research centres, a university and companies from six EU countries plus Turkey – began in 2012 by assessing the value of various types of waste, building up a database of potential feed ingredients.
NOSHAN is also working on functional feed ingredients derived from food waste that target specific animal needs, such as health promotion or disease prevention. For example, researchers are currently identifying functional fibres and peptides (chemical compounds) within waste. These will be used to develop feed products tailored to pigs and poultry.
Thursday October 16, 2014/ CE/ European Union.
http://europa.eu/rapid/
