Food excess and by-product processing ‘ecosystem’ mode
Paper
Paper/Presentation Title | Food excess and by-product processing ‘ecosystem’ mode |
---|---|
Presentation Type | Paper |
Authors | Burey, Paulomi (Author), Panchal, Sunil (Author) and Helwig, Andreas (Author) |
Year | 2019 |
Conference/Event | 13th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF13) |
Event Details | 13th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF13) Parent International Congress on Engineering and Food Event Date 23 to end of 26 Sep 2019 Event Location Melbourne, Australia |
Abstract | Horticultural food producers and processors typically have Food Excess and By-products (FE&Bs) generated during their operations, the value of which is underutilised. FE&Bs still often end up in landfill, improperly composted, or given away as animal feed, despite there being no shortage of technical strategies available to deal with this issue. FE&Bs are a rich source of water, bioactive compounds and fibre and could be used to produce high value nutritional and food products, as well as structural enhancements for composite material systems, including packaging. Techno-economics, missing links in the food supply chain to connect FE&Bs to these alternative product pathways, and lack of infrastructure are current hurdles. Investigations are nearing completion to determine the best FE&Bs processing and valorisation ‘ecosystem’ that approaches viable full circular economy by overcoming these hurdles. Development of such an ‘ecosystem’ to transform FE&Bs could increase the value of food producers’ product, and create new industries. To analyse such a system, we propose here a FE&Bs valorisation model, which takes into account several key influencing factors, including material composition and energy content, transport distance and cost, processing type (mobile or fixed), processing costs and time. The model also examines weighting these factors, based on effort of implementation from an economic viewpoint and/or perception of importance from a social virtue perspective. A simple processing and valorisation ecosystem test scenario is presented, highlighting the benefits of FE&Bs process symbiosis/integration. Australian food production test cases are presented here, but this model could be modified for most situations. |
Keywords | Food waste, food valorisation |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 400405. Food engineering |
Byline Affiliations | School of Sciences |
Functional Foods Research Group | |
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q56wv/food-excess-and-by-product-processing-ecosystem-mode
213
total views7
total downloads3
views this month0
downloads this month