We see it all the time: entire bins of food being thrown away at restaurants, pallets of produce lying unused in a warehouse, even our own kids sticking up their noses at the thought of eating all the food on their plates at dinner. Whatever form it takes, we’ve got an issue with food waste. In the U.S., Americans now waste 70% more food than they did in the 1970’s! Food waste is currently responsible for the same greenhouse gas emissions as approximately 37 million cars. Globally, if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest polluting country in the world!
Some of this waste is intentional, but much of it is not. Restaurants order ingredients hoping for large turnouts, and maybe they miscalculate or the customers simply don’t show up. Manufacturers end up with too much or too many ingredients and don’t know what to do with them. In this unpredictable and volatile economy brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of food waste and what to do about it has become even more apparent.
Luckily, there are beneficial and creative solutions.
Getting Creative With Food and Ingredients
Have you ever heard of Wtrmln Wtr? This fast-growing company was founded because of the issue of millions of pounds of watermelons being left to rot in the fields because they were deemed too “ugly” to be in the aisles of grocery stores.
There are numerous stories just like this one, and more and more producers, wholesalers, and manufacturers are getting creative and finding new ways to repurpose food and ingredients that would have previously been thrown into a landfill.
Even large food companies like Tyson Foods are rethinking food waste. They have launched new products and gained new profits from ingredients that would have previously been nothing but added cost and waste. For example, they have made a new protein crisp called Yappah from chicken trim, vegetable puree, and spent grain from Molson Coors.
Partnering with an Exchange Company
You’re a food manufacturer, farmer, food processing plant, or restauranteur and you end up with surplus ingredients of some sort. What do you do? The first and simplest thought is likely, where can I dispose of all these extra ingredients. Your normal day-to-day job isn’t trading, selling, or repurposing your ingredients, so naturally you would think to just dump it and write it off.
But what if there were another solution?
This is where a company such as Ingredient Exchange comes to the rescue. Ingredient Exchange has been serving buyers and sellers of hundreds of surplus ingredients such as dairy products, bakery items, and meat products, just to name a few. Ingredient Exchange provides a turnkey solution to find a new home, and new profits, for your surplus ingredients so that you can get back to your job.
Ingredient Exchange can add renewed value to your bulk goods by blending, reconditioning, and/or repackaging these materials. Since they’ve been doing this for over 20 years, they have built a network of contacts and creativity to help you get the most out of your products and byproducts.
Since you know your company and your products better than anyone, Ingredient Exchange will keep you in the loop with updated progress reports and potential new sales opportunities. Who knows where new connections and partnerships might be formed, but they’re ultimately beneficial for everyone involved.
What Ingredient Exchange can do for you not only helps your profits and bottom line, but it also eases your conscience and makes you feel better because of the benefits to the globe and the environment as well. Now that’s a win-win!
Got unusable ingredients, or questionable ingredients, let’s chat — while there’s still time?
