Vineland examines ways to manage produce waste

Added on 17 June 2022

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Vineland examines ways to manage produce waste

Approximately 74 per cent of Canadian fruit and vegetable waste occurs before reaching consumers for a myriad of reasons. One third of that total - considered unavoidable because of current processing and grading standards - generates expenses for producers and processors, who must dispose at landfills, ship to neighbouring livestock farms, or allow to decompose on unused plots of land.

To tackle this issue and help increase the industry's environmental sustainability, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre examined under-utilized waste streams for the top seven Canadian produce crops, including potatoes, apples, field tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, greenhouse cucumbers, onions and carrots, and identified the range of opportunities for managing these by-products.

"We interviewed over 40 companies across the horticulture and food value chain to identify under-utilized byproducts, better understand trends driving product formulation and find gaps in the ingredient market that could be filled through the transformation of waste," says Alexandra Grygorczyk, Vineland's research scientist, sensory and consumer services. "We found not all sectors have similar levels of waste, although those producing the most waste are actively looking for the right solutions."