Upcycled foods: A nudge toward nutrition

Margaret Thorsen; Sheila Skeaff; Francesca Goodman-Smith; Brian Thong; Phil Bremer; Miranda Mirosa

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1071829

Upcycled foods: A nudge toward nutrition

Front Nutr. 2022 Nov 21:9:1071829. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1071829. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Margaret Thorsen¹, Sheila Skeaff², Francesca Goodman-Smith³, Brian Thong¹, Phil Bremer¹, Miranda Mirosa¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
² Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
³ Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, SA, Australia.

Abstract

One of the aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is to end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round. An obvious synergy exists between the second SDG "Zero Hunger" and SDG target 12.3 which focuses on halving food waste and reducing food losses. In addition to helping improve global food security, reducing food waste provides financial and environmental benefits. Upcycling food is a technical solution for food waste reduction that retains the nutritional and financial value of food by-products. However, many of the upcycled foods produced are discretionary foods such as biscuits, crackers, and other snack food that are not part of a healthy dietary pattern, and should only be eaten sometimes in small amounts. Given the importance of ensuring a sustainable healthy diet, this paper discusses opportunities for upcycled food manufacturers to produce more nutritious products.

Keywords: by-product; discretionary food; healthy diet; nutrition; ultra-processed food; upcycled food.